SE Asia to give limited backing to APEC trade plans

SE Asia to give limited backing to APEC trade plans

SINGAPORE (AFP): Southeast Asia is expected to give only
limited support to trade and market liberalization proposals at
an upcoming APEC summit as the region recovers from an economic
slowdown.

Malaysia and Indonesia have said they are against plans for
early discussions on a new round of talks to free global trade, a
key topic at the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum in Auckland.

The Philippines, worried about consumers' privacy, has voiced
opposition to another proposal before APEC to have unrestricted
Internet commerce.

Thailand has not publicly opposed plans for discussions at the
APEC talks on Sept 12-13 but stressed last week that developing
nations must band together in the World Trade Organization (WTO)
and press for fairer treatment or risk being marginalized.

New Zealand, the meeting host, said moves to liberalize trade
under the WTO framework as well as to make financial markets more
transparent and efficient will top the APEC agenda.

Some Southeast Asian nations are still bitter with the United
States and other rich nations for failing to respond swiftly to
contain the Asian financial crisis which erupted in mid-1997.

The crisis plunged the region into a severe recession, from
where it is only beginning to emerge.

There are also those among Southeast Asian economies which
still bear a grudge against the United States for backing former
New Zealand prime minister Mike Moore in a bitter fight for the
top post in the WTO.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had backed
Thai candidate, deputy premier Supachai Panitchpaki. Both were
eventually chosen to share the position, with Moore beginning
first.

Malaysia, whose Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will skip the
APEC talks, and Indonesia have decided to oppose any swift action
to hold a new "millennium" round of multilateral trade
negotiations.

They are against plans to frame an agenda for the new round of
trade negotiations at the November WTO ministerial meeting in
Seattle.

Malaysia Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said after talks in May
with Indonesian trade officials that the discussions in Seattle
should be confined to "outstanding issues" from the previous
Uruguay Round.

"We are only prepared at the most next year to start talking
about a new round but not in Seattle," she said.

Malaysia and Indonesia argue that developing nations have yet
to benefit from commitments made during the Uruguay Round of
talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

The Auckland meeting is expected to help set the Seattle
agenda as APEC, whose 21 economies control nearly half of the
world trade, has traditionally led global free trade initiatives.

Singapore, the fiercest free trade campaigner in ASEAN, has
made it clear that an agreement in Seattle should send "the right
signal" to the market on the global trading environment and
prospects for further liberalization.

"We must not miss this opportunity to put in place a sound,
open trading regime for a stronger and more stable global
economy," it said.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said Manila would
oppose US-led moves to allow unrestricted Internet commerce,
another key talking point of the APEC summit.

The United States and other developed member economies of APEC
are battling for less government regulation in electronic
commerce in line with the group's moves to bring down trade
barriers.

But Manila wants the international community to set up a
"legal framework" first, its main concern being "protection of
consumers' privacy," Siazon said last week.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Peru, Singapore, South
Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.