Business network gets resounding approval of APEC

Business network gets resounding approval of APEC

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Asia-Pacific Business Network (APB-Net),
a new body facilitating business activities among members of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, yesterday gained
the endorsement from the forum's senior officials who are meeting
here.

Following his report to the Third APEC Senior Officials
Meeting (SOM) in Yogyakarta yesterday, Husein Aminuddin, chairman
of the organizing committee of the first APB-Net meeting, said
delegates fully backed the launching of the APB-Net.

"There were no objections. They supported the APB-Net," he
said.

The chairman of the SOM, Indonesia's Wisber Loeis, said that
the progress and objectives of the APB-Net received an
enthusiastic response.

Conceived during the Second APEC SOM in Bali last May, it was
not till the first APB-Net meeting in Jakarta on Aug. 23-25 that
this new organization was formally launched.

Some 200 delegates from member countries attended the first
APB-Net meeting, co-convened by Indonesia and Australia.

Its main objective was to develop business networking in the
APEC region. In other words, the APB-Net is the manifestation of
the private business sector within the 17-member APEC.

APEC groups Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New
Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Hong
Kong, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Mexico, United States, Japan,
and Canada.

Bernard Trevanion from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry remarked that the APB-Net was seen by many as a concrete
product of the ambitions set at the inaugural APEC Economic
Leaders Meeting (ALEM) on Blake Island, Seattle last year.

Separately, Wisber concurred with this remark saying that no
less than 10 delegations during yesterday's meeting made
favorable comments about the APB-Net.

The Japanese delegation responded by identifying the
importance of the APB-Net as a means of channeling the vitality
of the business sector.

Meanwhile the United States delegation, lead by Sandra
O'Leary, assistant secretary at the State Department's East Asian
and Pacific Affairs Bureau, expressed their encouragement about
the involvement of Japan as host of the next APB-Net meeting next
year.

Assessment

At the end of yesterday's meetings, Wisber, who is director
general of foreign economic relations at the foreign ministry in
Jakarta, commented on the implementation of the decisions reached
at the APEC meeting in Seattle by saying the SOM had adopted a
new approach.

The SOM has decided that initiatives will be assessed under
the seven themes contained within the ALEM Vision Statement.

"All the of APEC's current activities will be grouped under
the seven themes," Wisber said.

"Thus, we can see to what extent the instructions of the
leaders contained in the Vision Statement have been implemented,"
he concluded.

On the second day of the three day SOM, delegates swiftly
achieved consensus on a number of issues such as the adoption of
two new sub-committees under the Committee on Trade and
Investment (CTI).

The new sub-committees are on standards and conformance, and
on customs and procedures. It will have a trial period of three
years after which the forum will evaluate their work.

A draft declaration on human resources development, which
Indonesia introduced on Monday, was also well received by fellow
APEC members.

Pending future recommendations, the draft declaration will
undergo additional amendments so it can be ready for the Sixth
APEC Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta on Nov. 11-12.

Free trade -- Page 8