Canada hopes for recognition at APEC forum this year

Canada hopes for recognition at APEC forum this year

By Devi M. Asmarani

JAKARTA (JP): Canada hopes to gain worldwide recognition from
hosting this year's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum, the country's ambassador to Indonesia, Gary Smith, said
yesterday.

Smith told The Jakarta Post his country looked forward to
promoting its potential to the media and the delegates of APEC'S
18 members during the one-week event in Vancouver, a port city in
the province of British Columbia.

"We want to consolidate our position as a leading member and
as part of the Asia Pacific community, as half of the world's
trade is done within these 18 countries," he said.

"This is an opportunity to showcase Vancouver and Canada, our
technology, organizational skills and our location as a tourist,
study and business destination," he added.

He said Canada was an "unknown giant", despite the fact that
it was geographically the second largest country in the world and
that its economy was among the world's major ones.

Canada is hosting the fifth APEC Economic Leaders Meeting and
the ninth Ministerial Meeting from Nov. 19 to Nov. 25.

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

The group's two-day senior officials meeting started
Wednesday, and is followed by ministerial meetings scheduled for
today and tomorrow.

The forum's summit, to be attended by economic leaders from
the 18 countries, is scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday.

Smith said Canada had been preparing for the event for two
years. It expected to accommodate over 8,000 participants
including government officials, business leaders, non-
governmental activists and media representatives, he said.

The preparation cost about C$50 million, some $9 million of
which came from the private sector and the rest from the Canadian
federal government and the city of Vancouver, he said.

The event is expected to generate over $23 million for the
local economy, he said.

Smith said this year's APEC forum would likely adopt two
subjects that have previously not been discussed. These are the
currency situation in the region and sustainable growth.

Unlike in previous meetings, this one would be attended by
delegates from economies that had been suffering from currency
problems and reductions in their stock markets this year, he
said.

He said APEC leaders might discuss the situation and form a
consensus, which would likely be done in support of the
International Monetary Funds.

The forum might also come up with an economic crisis
surveillance measure, which would function as an early warning
mechanism for similar situations, he said.

Should such a measure be adopted, countries would watch each
other's economies, spot any difficulties emerging, and help find
a remedy, he said.

The APEC forum would also focus on environmentally-friendly
development, he said.

"Discussions will look at how we can grow and at the same time
make sure these burgeoning cities we have are livable," he said.

The haze caused by forest fires in some of Indonesia's islands
would likely be in the back of delegates' minds during the forum
he said.

He said the summit would likely create a proposal for
emergency response cooperation within the community.

The proposal would be a long-term plan among the country
members to respond to natural and manmade disasters in the Asia-
Pacific region.

Smith said Canada was also looking for further implementation
of the Bogor objective, which sets a deadline for free and open
trade and investment between APEC members by 2010 for developed
countries and 2020 for developing ones.

The declaration was established during the APEC 1994 summit in
Bogor, West Java.

He said this year's forum would look to further establish
early sectoral trade liberalization by cutting down tariffs of
certain export items.

Canada, like Indonesia, has avidly supported the inclusion of
forestry and fishery products among the items prioritized in the
early trade liberalization lists, he said.

"Fishery and forestry are two of the areas that Indonesia and
Canada are strong in," he said, adding the two countries were
pushing forward to reduce all related tariffs by no later than
2003.

Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Indonesia also
wanted to reduce tariffs on wood products beginning in 1999, and
eliminating them entirely by 2004, he said.