Ministers' opinions mixed on APEC ground rules
By Prapti Widinugraheni
MANILA (JP): Malaysian Minister of International Trade Rafidah Aziz reiterated yesterday the need for "flexibility" within the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, given the wide economic disparity between its members.
Rafidah said that imposing a particular rule or perception has never been the forum's method of operating.
Unlike the World Trade Organization, she said, APEC should not be used for negotiations, for imposing sanctions or for making rules.
"You can't have anything binding in APEC. Period," she told reporters after speaking at the first-day of the APEC Business Forum.
The two-day business forum, which is held parallel to a meeting of APEC ministers, is being attended by more than 500 chief executive officers of major companies based in APEC member economies.
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.
Rafidah said member economies used APEC as a means to exchange ideas and views on how each member could reach a common goal set out by APEC leaders in 1993.
That year, the leaders agreed to achieve free and open trade and investment in the region by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies.
Rafidah said that after three APEC leaders' meetings, she now sensed a "deeper feeling" of solidarity among APEC member- economies.
She considered members now had a "greater understanding" about the economic dissimilarities that the forum must accommodate and appreciates the fact that different situations require different approaches.
Earlier yesterday, Japanese Minister of International Trade and Industry Shinji Sato warned that APEC should follow up on its "voluntary approach" method to counter the critics who argue that rigid rules and legalities are the only effective means to deal with economic issues in the region.
He said APEC's adoption of a voluntary approach to reaching its goals should now be seen as a challenge to each member- economy.
"APEC's unique consensus is the principle of concerted unilateral liberalization... However, it hardly needs saying that the adoption of voluntarism is also a challenge to ourselves," he said.
"Should we not produce adequate results on the basis of the APEC spirit of voluntarism, it will be difficult to counter those who argue that a more traditional approach based on negotiation and deals is more effective," Sato said.
He said the formulation of the Manila Action Plan -- which will be endorsed by APEC leaders next week -- should be followed by establishing a means to ensure the action plan's steady evolution.
Sato suggested that APEC economies advance cooperation among their export credit agencies to promote private sector investment in infrastructure.
"Export credit agencies are subsidy free; they simply handle risk," he said, adding that this way "the risks which should be taken on by governments are borne by governments and the risks which the private sector should deal with are dealt with by the private sector".
He also suggested APEC initiate a "full-scale effort" to improve the investment climate in the region.
"The Japanese government sees the development of the investment principles into a more exact and transparent form as a top-priority issue in this year's APEC meetings," Sato said.
Sato also proposed the creation of a mechanism for the "clear assimilation" of private sector opinions to improve the Manila Action Plan -- which will be approved by APEC leaders next week -- and the individual action plans of each member economy.