Group sets blueprint for APEC leaders

Group sets blueprint for APEC leaders

SINGAPORE (Reuter): A group of business advisers to the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum said on Saturday that
it will recommend an aggressive timetable for cutting trade
barriers in the region.

"Our leaders must move quickly and with dispatch to provide an
economic environment which will allow the Asia-Pacific region to
continue its dynamic growth levels that are the envy of the
world," said Les McCraw, co-chair of the Pacific Business Forum
(PBF).

The APEC advisory group, comprised of 36 business leaders from
16 countries, announced at a news conference it had completed a
document mapping out how to advance the region's economic growth.
The group was convened in June and met three times.

The report will be officially presented to the current
chairman of APEC, Indonesian President Soeharto, on Oct. 15. It
will be given to the leaders of APEC's economies at a November
summit in Bogor, Indonesia.

APEC groups 18 major regional economies on both sides of the
Pacific, including the United States, Japan, China, Australia,
South Korea, Taiwan, and members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.

McCraw, who is chairman of Irvine, California-based
construction company Fluor Corp, said he could not reveal
specifics of the report before it is presented to Soeharto.

But he said it addresses further trade and investment
liberalization and deregulation, the need for transparency, costs
of capital and stability of exchange rates, border restrictions
and business ethics.

"Our report dealt more in generic elements than specific
country barriers," he said.

He said there is no mention of labor standards or politics.
"This was an effort that dealt with commercial realities," said
McCraw.

One theme of the document is that "free trade and investment
liberalization must be accelerated at a faster rate than in the
past", he said.

In drafting the report, there was no formal or informal
discussion between the PBF and another APEC advisory panel, the
Eminent Persons Group (EPG), said McCraw. The business group did
not want to compromise its independence by consulting other
bodies.

The EPG this week unveiled its own report, which recommended
that the region complete the trade-liberalization process by the
year 2020.

McCraw said that while he has not yet read the EPG's report,
"My sense is, from what I've read in the newspaper, that the
timetable of the PBF will be more aggressive," he said.

"Business people want things to happen. Businesspeople set
high goals. Business people are proactive, and deal more in
aggressive action."

He said he will be "very surprised" if there are not
significant differences between the two reports.