Russia likely to enter APEC with Japanese support: Jiji

Russia likely to enter APEC with Japanese support: Jiji

TOKYO (AFP): Russia is expected to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum as early as next year after Japan eased its tough stance to Russian's bid to enter the grouping, Jiji Press said yesterday.

Together with Peru and Vietnam, Russia may be chosen as a primary candidate during the forum's annual meeting in Vancouver in mid-November, the news agency said, quoting government sources.

The sources said there was no opposition to Russia's bid from any major members, including the United States, South Korea and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, they said.

Japan had been reluctant to back Moscow's bid for membership, saying the Russian economy was too premature to join the forum, which urges member economies to commit themselves to tear down trade barriers.

That stance was reversed, however, when Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto promised President Boris Yeltsin he would back Russia's entry during their informal summit on November 2 in the central Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

At the summit, Hashimoto won Yeltsin's pledge to resolve their half-century territorial dispute over the Kuril islands and sign a peace treaty by 2000.

Soviet troops occupied four of the Kuril islands off northern Japan in the closing days of World War II. Japan still disputes Russia's sovereignty over the islands and the two countries have yet to sign a formal pact ending the war.

Senior officials of APEC have said the forum's leaders may seek speedier admission of new members, reconsidering a decision taken last year welcoming new members to the 18-member grouping only in 1999.

At least 11 economies, including Peru, Russia and Vietnam, have applied to join APEC.

The forum now comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.

APEC ministers had proposed at their meeting in Manila last year that special criteria for membership be drawn up this year and a decision be made at the meeting in Malaysia in 1998 whether to admit the new members.

This would mean that APEC would only admit new members by 1999.

APEC members in 1993 imposed a three-year moratorium on new members to avoid rapid expansion of the loose grouping. APEC operates by consensus, meaning that the approval of each member is needed to reach a decision.

Proposed criteria for new members include geographical location, interest in pursuing market reforms, and commitment to APEC's goal of liberalizing trade by 2010 for developed members and 2020 for developing members.