ASEAN's strength will not be lost in APEC: Study
ASEAN's strength will not be lost in APEC: Study
JAKARTA (JP): The strength of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will not be "diluted" by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, a study says.
"Fears that ASEAN will be redundant once the APEC forum is institutionalized are not based on strong arguments. Seen from whatever angle, the existence of the forum will never reduce the importance of ASEAN," says a study on the development of APEC and its impact on ASEAN conducted by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The results of the study were presented at the Hilton Executive Club yesterday by a team led by Sujatmiko. A number of economists and scholars, including Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and Hadi Soesastro, were also present to discuss the study's findings.
The study argues that the scope of cooperation in ASEAN is much larger than that of the APEC forum. The latter focuses only on economic affairs, especially trade and investment, while ASEAN encompasses matters of politics, economics and defense.
"These large fields of cooperation, which are not addressed by the APEC forum, have driven ASEAN to remain in its own tracks," the study's draft report says.
APEC groups Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Papua New Guinea along with the six members of ASEAN -- Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia.
The study also assuages fears that developed members will dominate the APEC forum in the future by saying that ASEAN has been the core of the forum ever since the formation of the forum in 1989. ASEAN, on the other hand, was set up in 1967.
"ASEAN has so far influenced the APEC forum in many ways...The ASEAN's model of the consensus system in adopting any agreement, for instance, is also applied in APEC," the study says.
Warning
Hadi, executive director of the Centre for Strategic International Studies, warned that ASEAN's role in the APEC forum will diminish unless ASEAN members remain united in the forum.
Critics have said that the cohesiveness of ASEAN has been deteriorating since the second APEC leaders' informal summit in Bogor last November, when Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines expressed their own reservations with the Bogor Declaration.
"Indonesia has to take a leadership approach to bridge the different opinions among ASEAN members as Indonesia has a great interest in implementing the Bogor Declaration," Hadi said.
He noted that the thorny issues brewing among ASEAN countries are the substance of the Bogor Declaration, especially on trade and investment liberalization in the region by 2020.
The study suggests that ASEAN leaders should meet before attending APEC meetings to consolidate themselves in the face of the more developed members.
"The pattern shows that the APEC economic leaders meeting will be conducted annually, at least until 1998.... Thus, the ASEAN leaders meeting, either formal or informal, becomes very important...in achieving a single position within the APEC forum," the study suggests.(rid)