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.