Ministers to launch work on ASEAN's economic vision

Ministers to launch work on ASEAN's economic vision

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Southeast Asia's freewheeling economies
will launch talks this weekend on devising a comprehensive agenda
to speed up economic cooperation and enhance their niche in
international trade, a senior official said yesterday.

"We will for the first time devise a vision for ASEAN. We
cannot live day to day because the world is changing so fast
around us and we better optimize our vast potential," Malaysian
International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz told
reporters.

Rafidah said the six-member ASEAN economic ministers would
hold their first informal meeting at Malaysia's Genting Highlands
Awana resort on Friday and Saturday to work on a theme for the
long-term economic vision for the grouping.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) --
comprising Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand -- already has a set of programs to
enhance economic cooperation, including a mechanism to achieve an
Asian Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 15 years.

"The theme for ASEAN's long-term vision will have to be looked
at from the standpoint of the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks, the
ASEAN free trade area or AFTA and other regional linkages,"
Rafidah said.

She said there was no deadline as such for the completion of a
blueprint for ASEAN's economic vision but "hopefully, we can
arrive at a common theme for presentation at the next ASEAN
government leaders summit in Bangkok next year."

The last ASEAN summit held in Singapore in January 1992 agreed
to cut tariffs on intra-ASEAN trade in manufactured, capital and
processed agricultural goods to between zero percent and five
percent by 2008.

The ASEAN area, which has a population of around 330 million,
is the world's fastest growing region. Nearly 60 percent of
ASEAN's exports go directly to industrial countries.

Officials said the ministerial meeting was expected to discuss
proposals to speed up the implementation of AFTA.

Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said on
Friday that the 15-year time-frame set for AFTA had been
superseded by the recent signing of the Uruguay Round accord in
Marrakesh, Morocco.

"Given this new backdrop, it does not make sense for AFTA to
stick to its original time frame," Yeo said.