Some ASEAN countries said mellowing on APEC trade group

Some ASEAN countries said mellowing on APEC trade group

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Reuter): Some Southeast Asian nations
are warming to the idea of trade liberalization within the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum now that proposals on
trade appear less rigid, a senior Thai official said yesterday.

Thailand's position on the trade grouping, which includes the
United States and Japan as well as the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), had turned to neutral from initial
skepticism, deputy prime minister Supachai Panitchpakdi said.

"The former (package of trade proposals) as presented in (the
first APEC summit meeting in) Seattle was too obligatory, too
legalistic," Supachai told reporters before a meeting of ASEAN
economic ministers in this northern Thai city.

"It would have required us to work on something that
presupposed a level playing field, which we do not have at the
moment," he said.

APEC, like other regional trade groupings, seeks to reduce
tariffs and other obstacles to free trade among its members.

Supachai said ASEAN's position on trade liberalization
proposals to be discussed at the next APEC summit in Indonesia in
November would be a major topic of discussion at these meetings,
due to last until Sunday.

ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, is well on its way to
breaking down internal barriers. The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
is to bring down tariffs on most goods to between zero to five
percent by the year 2008.

The economic ministers meeting here this week will accelerate
that timetable to 2003.

"We have not reached any consensus (on the latest proposals on
trade liberalization). There might not be any consensus for every
issue...But we will try to find a common ground for ASEAN to
voice our unified stance," he said.

All in ASEAN agreed on total support for the Uruguay Round of
world trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT), he said.