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.