Australia says it has least to do for trade target

Australia says it has least to do for trade target

CANBERRA (Reuter): Australia will probably need to pull down
fewer trade barriers than any other country aiming for free trade
in the Asia-Pacific region, the government said yesterday.

"The task for us is largely behind us," Prime Minister Paul
Keating told reporters on his return from the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Indonesia.

APEC leaders agreed on Tuesday to target free trade in the
region by 2020, with industrialized members -- such as the United
States and Australia -- achieving the objective by 2010.

"Australia is already a long way down the path of free trade,
having already eliminated quotas," Finance Minister Kim Beazley
told parliament.

"Probably of all the countries in the region we will have the
least adjustment to make in achieving these goals."

Australia, once a heavily protected economy, eliminated its
import quotas in the 1980s while also reducing tariffs.

The last major element of the once elaborate system of trade
barriers, the general manufacturing tariff, will fall to five
percent in 1996, with the only exceptions granted to the clothing
and motor vehicle industries.

"We're going to be down to an average level of manufacturing
protection of about three percent by the year 2000," Keating
said.

But foreign investment remains regulated -- with restrictions
in certain industries, particularly the media, and a broad
requirement that investment be in the national interest.

"We couldn't have thought of this (free trade in the region)
had we not taken the decision 10 to 12 years ago to open
Australia up," said Keating, who led the charge to deregulate the
economy while he was treasurer from 1983 to 1991.

Japan

Meanwhile, analysts and Japanese media were skeptical
yesterday about turning the broad commitment reached at Bogor,
Indonesia into a blueprint for action in next year's meeting in
the Japanese city of Osaka.

"Right now this is just a political statement," said John
Neuffer, senior research fellow at Mitsui Marine Research
Institute.

"It seems that the host country has to come up with some sort
of vision," Neuffer said. "The more forward-looking people (in
Japan) are looking at it as an opportunity to show political and
economic leadership in the region, but I have doubts about how
effectively Japan can do that."

Setting a timetable for free trade in the region itself was
controversial, with the United States and Australia pushing hard
while others such as China and Malaysia resisted.

Just hours after member nations agreed on the accord, Malaysia
issued a document of reservation, insisting the target dates of
2020 and 2010 were indicative dates and non-binding.

Japanese media clearly had doubts of their own.

"APEC has publicly committed to liberalization, but this does
not mean any guarantee that progress is possible," said an
editorial in influential financial daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said on Tuesday that
the next APEC meeting in Osaka would focus on the specifics of
free trade in member countries. He also admitted Japan has its
own worries, especially over agricultural liberalization.

Foremost among the specifics that need to be worked out is
likely to be the meaning of the phrase "free and open trade".

"The Bogor accord did not define or explain the scope of
liberalization," said the daily Asahi Shimbun. "It is also
doubtful how much meaning the deadline 25 years hence has."

Japanese officials have already said Tokyo, under perennial
fire for not assuming higher-profile leadership in the region,
would play a "subtle" role next year.