PBF presents report to ministerial meeting
JAKARTA (JP): The Pacific Business Forum (PBF) presented a report yesterday to the APEC ministerial meeting recommending policy changes needed to sustain regional growth in four major areas.
One recommendation, considered by many economists as too bold and too ambitious, calls for free trade and investment liberalization in APEC economies for its developed members by 2002 and for all its members by the year 2010.
The report, presented by PBF co-chairmen Bustanil Arifin of Indonesia and Les McCraw of the United States, also calls for the facilitation of existing and future businesses, the development of a business and human resource support mechanism and a new partnership between business and government in a number of areas.
"We want to be able to do business in each others' economies easily, simply and under a clear set of rules and regulations that are equally and fairly applied," McCraw, also Chairman of Fluor Corp. noted.
The PBF, established last June at the request of the APEC leaders at their first summit on Blake Island, the U.S., in November, 1993, consists of 33 representatives from member economies.
The forum was assigned to identify issues APEC should address to facilitate regional trade and investment and to encourage the further development of business networks throughout the region. It submitted its report to President Soeharto, Chairman of APEC, early last month.
The proposed final deadline for free trade and investment liberalization, as proposed by PBF, is 10 years earlier than the year 2020 recommended by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG).
"If these dates sound aggressive and seem out of reach, let them at least symbolize for you the sense of urgency within the business community," McCraw told the foreign and trade ministers.
For the private sector, he added, achieving free trade and investment liberalization cannot come too soon.
McCraw told a news conference later that "the datelines should be interpreted as a signal to our governments to move forward and faster.
Bustanil, chairman of Indonesia's Berdikari business group, called on the business community in the APEC region not to worry about the policy changes recommended by the PBF.
Unnecessary
"Any sense of insecurity or even anxiety regarding the direction and nature of change in the region as proposed by the PBF is unnecessary.
The PBF report says that unless bold steps are taken this year towards free trade and investment liberalization, the region will be unable to sustain current economic growth levels.
The PBF's recommendations, which in substance are very similar to those made by the EPG, also call for the adoption of a non- binding APEC investment code and an immediate standstill on new trade and investment barriers.
It also suggests the establishment of a dispute settlement mechanism, the promotion of business ethics and small and medium enterprises and a comprehensive plan for region-wide infrastructure development.
Commenting on the report, Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said yesterday that his country saw the 2020 date as proposed by the EPG as more realistic than the PBF's 2010 deadline.
"But whatever the date may be it is essential in our view that there be a specific date identified if any commitment made is to be seen as real," Evans added.(vin)