Bush offers ASEAN free trade deal carrot

Bush offers ASEAN free trade deal carrot

Stephen Collinson, Agence France Presse, Los Cabos, Mexico

President George W. Bush on Saturday offered to reward Southeast Asian states that prove they are committed to economic reform with a network of free trade agreements with the United States.

The White House billed the offer as the Enterprise for ASEAN initiative (EAI), in an announcement on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at the Los Cabos, golf and beach resort.

"The United States believes that a strong U.S.-ASEAN relationship is a force for stability and development in the Southeast Asian region," the White House said in a statement.

"The EAI will enhance already close U.S. ties with ASEAN. The EAI offers the prospect of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and ASEAN countries that are committed to economic reforms and openness."

"The goal is to create a network of bilateral FTAs, which will increase trade and investment, tying more closely together our economies and our futures."

The United States is currently close to concluding an FTA with Singapore, which will be the first such deal with an Asian state, which was first mooted two years ago at an APEC summit in Brunei.

A White House official said the EAI device was used by the United States with Latin American nations ahead of the launch of talks for the Free Trade Area of the Americas zone, due to be completed in 2005.

Under the EAI plan, the United States is pledging that it would be willing to begin negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) with individual ASEAN nations once they have met certain conditions.

In order to be eligible to begin negotiations, ASEAN nations would have to be members of the World Trade Organization.

They would also have to have the more rigorous standard of having completed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement with the United States, known as a TIFA.

Earlier this week, the United States signed a TIFA with Thailand, and already has TIFAs with Indonesia and the Philippines.

The United States also pledged to help ASEAN members Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, that are not yet part of the WTO, to become members of the global trade body.

ASEAN -- the Association of South East Asian Nations -- groups Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, plus their Cambodian counterparts.