S'pore, Japan officially begin free trade talks
S'pore, Japan officially begin free trade talks
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore and Japan on Wednesday officially
began talks on a free trade agreement, as Senior Minister Lee
Kuan Yew said such pacts were a way of reaching out to the world.
The two-day talks behind closed doors at a Singapore luxury
hotel follow preparatory discussions here earlier this month.
Both countries will take turns in hosting rounds of
negotiations with the aim of signing an accord by the year's end.
Lee, Singapore's founding father and former prime minister,
has defended the country's efforts to forge bilateral trade
pacts, citing the failure of the Seattle round of global trade
talks in 1999 and the emergence of Europe as a large economic
union.
"We have to reach out. It's a compelling issue for us," Lee
told reporters in Davos, Switzerland where he attended the World
Economic Forum.
"It makes sense for every ASEAN country to reach out," he said
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which groups
Singapore along with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Lee said Japan was likely to return "in strength" into
Southeast Asia once it gets over its economic difficulties.
"They (Japanese) industrialized Southeast Asia. Their
investments, technology and products were the ones that created
the East Asia miracle," he said.
"They won't allow grass to grow under their feet and let the
Chinese or the Europeans take over Southeast Asia."
China, during a meeting of East Asian leaders here in
November, said it hoped to negotiate a free trade arrangement
with ASEAN.
While Japan is said to be exploring the same idea, Lee said
the prospects depended on the willingness of Japan's huge and
powerful agricultural sector to make concessions.
Many ASEAN members also have large agricultural sectors.
Last year, the draft plan for the proposed Japan-Singapore
free trade agreement came under fire at the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit in Brunei from noted economist Fred
Bergsten.
He said Japan's reluctance to liberalize in agriculture,
fishery and forest products, "clearly violates the agreed precept
of APEC liberalization of comprehensive coverage."
The talks in Singapore were expected to focus on a "new age
partnership" in such areas as trade in goods and services,
investment, harmonization of regulatory procedures, competition
policy as well as information and communication technology.
Lim Chin Beng, the chairman of Singapore Technologies
Aerospace and a former ambassador to Tokyo, headed the city-
state's delegation, while Kazuo Asakai, ambassador for
international economic affairs, led the Japanese side.
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and his Japanese
counterpart Yoshiro Mori agreed at an Asia-Pacific leaders'
summit in Brunei last November on the need for such an agreement.
If successful, it would be the first free-trade agreement for
Japan, the world's second largest economy which had previously
favored multilateral trade pacts such as the World Trade
Organization.
Singapore last year sealed a free-trade agreement with New
Zealand and is currently negotiating a similar accord with the
United States.
It also hopes to forge similar trade pacts with Canada, Mexico
and Australia, sparking concerns that the slew of bilateral
agreements could undermine the multilateral process.