APEC free trade deal pushed

BUSINESS LEADERS want Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministers meeting in Japan this week to move a long-planned regional trade deal forward.

Efforts towards open and fair trade in the 21-nation group are needed to keep up the “changing nature of modern… regional supply chains,” the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) said in a statement yesterday.

“ABAC is seeking from ministers greater detail on the modalities and processes towards a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) to enable active involvement by the business community,” it said.

A Philippine trade official gave assurances that work on the deal was underway.

“[Current work] is already very comprehensive,” Trade Assistant Secretary Jose Antonio S. Buencamino said in a telephone interview.

The Philippines, he added, is strongly behind the deal as it will give the country access to a bloc that accounts for the bulk of global trade and investment flows.

ABAC Philippines has backed the planned trade deal, claiming that APEC member economies account for 54% of world GDP and 44% of world trade.

Other regional trade deals being simultaneously brokered should consider models that will eventually allow the FTAAP to emerge later on, the ABAC added.

It went on to call for “an annual set of regional integration metrics” to monitor progress towards deepening economic ties and making trade more inclusive for developing countries.

They referred to a 2010 nonbinding deadline for industrialized members to achieve free trade goals first laid down in 1994 in Bogor, Indonesia.

This will come on top of existing APEC monitoring efforts such as the annual review of members’ regulatory reforms and the occasional prescription of performance indicators like targets to cut trade costs.

Mr. Buencamino echoed this, saying: “We have to ascertain that developed countries are complying with the goals.”

APEC trade ministers should likewise “recommit to achieving free and open trade within the APEC region” with a strong emphasis on “balanced and inclusive growth”, the ABAC said.

It called for a more consultative process that would allow business leaders to closely work with policy makers. “ABAC recommends that the links between the APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and ABAC processes be better defined and integrated,” it said.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam. –JESSICA ANNE D. HERMOSA, Reporter, Businessworld