U.S. asks Asia-Pacific to do more on services

U.S. asks Asia-Pacific to do more on services

JAKARTA (JP): The United States stepped up its pressure on
countries in the Asia-Pacific region to open up their services
sector, liberalize their procurement markets and eliminate
bribery practices.

Addressing the American Chamber of Commerce yesterday, U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher said that the country will
bring those issues to the World Trade Organization's (WTO)
upcoming ministerial conference in this December.

"We believe that the Singapore WTO ministerial meeting should
commit to implementing the Uruguay Round and concluding a round
of the so-called unfinished business, particularly in services,"
Christopher said.

He was here to attend the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum -- in which the United States is a
dialogue partner -- and the ASEAN Post Ministerial meetings that
ended yesterday.

Christopher underscored the importance of Indonesia in ASEAN
and the importance of the grouping to the United States. He
noted that two-way trade between his country and ASEAN surpassed
$100 billion last year.

"Indonesia is the largest market in the group, which is
rapidly growing. Indonesia is a key focus of American agencies
which are to promote American economic interests in the region,"
Christopher said.

He noted that the United States and ASEAN will both benefit
from reaching agreements in 1997 that embrace standards of
openness in two key service sectors, telecommunications and
financial services.

Negotiations in both sectors have been slow. According to the
developed countries, most developing countries are not making a
significant commitment to opening up the sectors.

Christopher noted that the upcoming WTO meeting should also
begin to set priorities for the early 21st century. He suggested
that the WTO reduce or eliminate tariffs on high-tech products
and move forward on the comprehensive liberalization of
government procurements.

"The U.S. has a very strong interest in opening procurement
markets in this region and around the world. And definitely we
will make that a priority," Christopher said.

He suggested that the United States and ASEAN work closely
through the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum -- in
which the United States and six of the seven ASEAN countries are
members -- to encourage greater transparency in government
procurement.

In most developing countries, government procurements tend to
favor domestic products over imported ones and bidding practices
for government projects are often not transparent.

"We are now focusing on transparency in bidding procedures,
especially in government procurement contracts. We will be doing
that through the WTO and APEC," Christopher said.

He again stressed that the WTO meeting should address the
relationship between trade and core labor standards, a proposal
vehemently opposed by developing countries, including those
belonging to ASEAN.

"We recognize that different countries have different
comparative advantages and different stages of development,
including different wage levels. But we believe that there are
ways to expand trade and protect workers at the same time," he
argued.

Developing countries have opposed efforts to link labor
standards with trade issues, contending that they could blunt
their comparative edge.

Christopher also called on Asian countries, those in ASEAN in
particular, to confront the reality of illicit payments for the
sake of transparent competition across the board.

He noted that bribery practices in a number of Asian countries
have caused tens of billions dollars in losses to U.S. firms
operating in the region.

The U.S. and its major trading partners in the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have agreed to
take "a concrete and meaningful step" to stop illicit payments by
their firms.

"This is a provision of criminal transnational bribery of
public officials... We will press all of our major trading
partners and competitors in OECD to carry out their commitments
through their national legislations," Christopher said.

He then urged ASEAN countries, whose economies have entered
the world market, to take tougher measures against the rampant
violation of intellectual property rights.

"I urge ASEAN to toughen controls on intellectual property
rights, to reach an agreement on financial services, to open up
telecommunications competition, to support air transport
throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and develop fair and
consistent guidelines for government procurement contracts,"
Christopher said. (rid)