Bilateral FTAs and economic blocs

Bilateral FTAs and economic blocs

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum's
ministerial meeting held in Santiago, Chile, last week, the
attending ministers issued a statement of intent to work through
expanded bilateral free trade agreements to support World Trade
Organization trade liberalization negotiations. At present, the
FTA vision is a part of an agenda to promote trade
liberalization.

The new round of WTO talks has deepened the differences
between not only the industrialized countries, but also between
the ranks of the developed and developing nations. This has led
to an extension of the deadline for completing negotiations, and
it is also why FTAs are being hailed as a speedy means to further
progress on trade.

For Japan, which has been slow to form FTAs, there is a
particular sense of anxiety. Japan's FTA strategy is to expand
beyond the mere curtailing or lifting of tariffs. Instead, the
government is targeting comprehensive trade packages that
encompass liberalization of investment, human resource training
and other economic cooperation.

We would point out that such economic cooperation will bear
real fruit only when tariff barriers have been removed and a free
flow of goods is achieved.

For its part, while the APEC ministerial statement stressed
the importance of expanding FTAs, it also noted that these
accords should complement the WTO's plan. With that, the
organization effectively issued a warning to avoid creating trade
blocs.

We must remember that Asian FTAs will only be successful when
individual accords are promoted with a clear view of the basic
goal-the creation of a free trade scheme that is fully open to
the world.

-- The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo.