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.