LEAD: Japan garners support for APEC capacity-building

Asian Economic News, June 12, 2000

DARWIN, Australia, June 5 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDS REACTION FROM U.S., AUSTRALIA, CANADA, MORE INFO ON PROPOSAL)

Japan garnered strong support Monday from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States, Australia and Canada for its proposal to help developing countries implement WTO commitments in trade and investment liberalization.

WTO Director General Mike Moore told reporters after talks with Japanese International Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya the Japanese proposal would help restore the confidence of developing countries in the WTO, which he said is needed if there is to be any early launch of a new round of multilateral trade talks.

Moore and Fukaya met in Darwin, northern Australia, on the eve of a two-day meeting of trade ministers from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Richard Fisher told a press conference Japan "deserves a great deal of credit" for having formulated and promoted new programs for capacity-building and technical assistance.

Japanese officials said similar messages of support were received in Fukaya's bilateral meetings with Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile and Canadian International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew.

Fukaya explained to reporters Japan envisages a "strategic and tailor-made approach" to capacity-building to help ease the implementation of WTO agreements and alleviate the burdens of developing economies in APEC to participating in a new round.

"We should endeavor to provide cooperation that matches a country's needs," he said.

The minister said APEC should, by November, identify the needs of its developing-economy members through questionnaires and field studies and also draft a capacity-building strategy for each country.

After the APEC leaders summit in November in Brunei, he said, those strategies should be implemented with funds from member governments, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and a fund set up within APEC.

A Japanese source said $40 million to $50 million has been tossed around as a ballpark figure for the amount of money required, but suggested substantially more could be needed.

Fukaya said the purpose of the initiative is to expand the knowledge and skills needed by developing countries to implement WTO agreements and also to help them develop the necessary legal framework for domestic implementation.

He suggested seminars could be held to enhance the skills of developing countries to participate more effectively in international trade negotiations and in the international dispute mechanisms of the WTO.

Funds would also go toward providing some developing economies with the physical infrastructure for domestic implementation of WTO obligations, including the provision of computers and the construction of buildings.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

WTO chief Moore called the initiative "another case where Japan is showing leadership" toward facilitating the early holding of a new round.

He said capacity-building is key because "what we have learned over the past few years is we can only go as far as the smallest and poorest of our membership."

Moore said he cannot predict with any accuracy when a new round might be launched, calling the situation "still very difficult" and citing "areas of substantial difference."

He said that while APEC, whose member economies account for half the world's exports, can "provide some modest momentum...there will be no great breakthrough at dawn."

"We're a little bit closer, but we're not close enough yet. This is just going to be hard work."