RP wary of trade pact of ASEAN, Australasia

RP wary of trade pact of ASEAN, Australasia

CANBERRA (Reuter): The Philippines would be cautious about
entering a mooted Australasia-ASEAN trade pact because of
Manila's reluctance to cut trade tariffs quickly, President Fidel
Ramos said in an interview published yesterday.

"We would have to be sure because of the differences in the
levels of development," Ramos, interviewed in The Australian
newspaper, said of the chances of entering the proposed pact.

In early April Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said he
had agreed with Thailand to pursue the linkup of the Australia
and New Zealand free trade pact CER (Closer Economic Relations),
with AFTA, the ASEAN Free Trade Area.

ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups the
Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore
-- some of Asia's fastest growing economies.

A combined free trade area covering ASEAN, Australia and New
Zealand could be worth around A$1,400 billion (US$1,000 billion)
a year, Keating said.

However, Keating said that a quickening of the pace of tariff
reductions within AFTA was necessary before the wider free trade
pact could be formed.

Ramos said his country had a slow rate of tariff reduction.

"The ones who can't immediately bring tariffs down, like us,
must also be given consideration. This is a problem in AFTA now,"
Ramos said.

"Indonesia and the Philippines are seen as the slowest to
reduce the number of tariff items, or items that are protected by
quantitative restrictions," Ramos said.

"The more (tariff reductions) there are in the trading area
the better the trading area would be in the end but we have to
take care of that transition period very carefully."