Asia and Europe reiterate resolve for liberalization

Asia and Europe reiterate resolve for liberalization

SINGAPORE (AFP): Senior officials from member countries of the
Asia-Europe meeting have reiterated their resolve to keep the two
region's markets open despite renewed protectionist pressure.

The three-day conference of some 150 trade and investment
officials here -- the first to be held after the second ASEM
summit held in London in April 1998 -- ended Saturday, noting
significant progress in plans for wide-ranging programs for
economic cooperation, officials said.

But in a statement they expressed concern over "the rise of
protectionist pressure in the wake of the financial crisis."

The crisis, which began in Asia in mid-1997, has spread
throughout other emerging markets, threatening to bring down the
economic growth rates of Europe and the United States, which are
large markets for the struggling economies.

There have been repeated warnings against insulating ailing
industries from further liberalization, a move that analysts say
would have severe repercussions for countries trying to export
their way out of the crisis.

"They stressed the importance of continued implementation of
the trade and investment pledge made at ASEM (summit in London)
which will contribute to maintaining a free and open trading
environment," said Finian Tan, deputy secretary of Singapore's
ministry of trade and industry and co-chairman of the meeting.

The officials said that pursuing liberalization plans would
"allow for the quick recovery of affected economies and to
prevent the crisis from deepening and spreading," Tan said.

Karun Kittisataporn, a director-general at Thailand's ministry
of commerce and also a co-chair said however, that "there is no
rising protectionism in Asia."

A testimony to this was the December summit of the Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) where leaders showed that the
nine-member grouping "does not look back on its commitment to
trade and investment," he said.

"After measures that have been done by the (Asian) countries,
there are signs of stability and positive signs of recovery,"
said Karun, referring to a raft of reforms mandated by the
International Monetary Fund which has extended huge aid packages
to countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea.

ASEM comprises 25 countries -- 10 from Asia including seven
from ASEAN, and 15 from the European Union -- plus the European
Commission.

"We are just warning each other among the 25 governments and
the (European) Commission: Don't succumb to that (protectionist)
pressure," Karun said.

The officials' meeting here updated a program to facilitate
trade through lower tariffs and other non-tariff measures in
areas such as customs procedures, testing standards and
intellectual property rights.

Asian officials also urged their counterparts to continue
pursuing high-level business missions from Europe to Asia.

To facilitate investments, ASEM is setting up a virtual
information exchange website being developed by the European
Commission, which will provide comprehensive information on
member countries' regulations and initiatives for those wishing
to invest.

ASEM will also compile a table of national investment
promotion and policy initiatives that have been effective in
enhancing inward investment flows, said Tan.

These plans will be brought forward to another meeting of
senior officials in Brussels in July and then to the Economic
Ministers Meeting in Berlin in October.

Unlike the World Trade Organization, pledges made in ASEM are
non-binding, but officials said this hardly affected resolve by
countries to keep their markets open.

"Just because it's non-binding, it doesn't mean it doesn't
carry any weight. There's a lot of peer pressure. Member
countries feel obliged to do what they say, do what they agree
on," said Tan.