No significant progress on APEC new membership
No significant progress on APEC new membership
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
VANCOUVER, Canada (JP): Senior officials of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum ended their two-day meeting
Thursday failing to make significant progress on the issue of new
members.
Officials in the end decided to leave the question of new
members pending and let their ministers, who begin their two-day
session Friday (Saturday in Indonesia), resolve the issue.
"There was no agreement," Indonesian senior official Soemadi
Brotodiningrat said.
He explained that some are holding to last year's agreement to
maintain a moratorium on new members for three years, while
others would like to hasten the process to two years.
APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand
and the United States.
The forum aims to break down trade and investment barriers by
2010 for developing countries and 2020 for developing ones.
The rising prominence of the forum in recent years has
prompted many countries to apply for membership.
But some have pointed out that having too many members could
weaken the consensus-based decision-making process of the forum.
During the APEC ministerial meeting in Manila last year,
ministers agreed to a set of criteria for which new members would
be judged. They further agreed that the current list of 11
applicants would be processed in a three-year span before being
able to join.
Those that have applied for membership are Colombia, Ecuador,
India, Macau, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Russia, Sri Lanka
and Vietnam.
Vietnam (backed by the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations), Peru (backed by Mexico and Chile), and Russia (backed
by the United States) are tipped to be the leading contenders.
"There is no firm consensus over which of the 11 applicants
will be accepted," said Soemadi adding that there are also
varying interpretations on the criteria for new members.
The criteria for membership include geographic proximity, the
responsiveness in drawing up an individual action plan for trade
and investment liberalization, and the potential member's stake
and interest in the region.
Finance
Soemadi yesterday also said that senior officials proposed
that the financial turmoil hitting the region be the first
subject discussed by APEC leaders when they meet here Monday.
He said senior officials did not deliberate on the issue since
a majority of APEC members' finance deputy ministers already
concluded a meeting in Manila.
Jim Judd, assistant deputy minister at the Canadian finance
department, also noted that leaders would likely want to review
the results of the meeting which drew up certain approaches to
face the crisis.
He said Monday's leaders' meeting would be a good opportunity
to speak candidly about the problem and see "whether their
officials did a good enough job".
"There's certainly hope that leaders will endorse the work of
the meeting (in Manila)," he told journalists.
But Judd quickly warned that no one could "prejudge" what the
leaders would do.
APEC ministers begin their meeting today with an informal
morning gathering to discuss Early Sectoral Voluntary
Liberalization (EVSL).
Senior officials have concluded a draft list of 15 sectors for
early liberalization and now it is up to the ministers to see
whether they can incorporate them into a package.
Delegates here have suggested that ministers will likely
reduce the list to just three to five products with a possible
commencement date of 1999.
Ministers will also have to tackle other pending issues left
over by senior officials such as the host's proposal for a
"people to people linkage" as a form of greater public
participation in APEC.
Ministers will also consider a proposal by senior officials to
establish a subcommittee on technical and economic cooperation.
Coordinating Minister of Production and Distribution Hartarto
will lead the Indonesian delegation at the meetings.