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.