3RD LD: APEC endorses Japan's plan to help developing states

Asian Economic News, June 12, 2000

DARWIN, Australia, June 6 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)

Trade ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Tuesday endorsed Japan's "capacity-building" proposals to help developing states implement their commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to liberalize trade and investment.

Japanese International Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya called APEC's acceptance of the proposals, which is expected to be formalized in a chairman's statement to be issued Wednesday, the "biggest achievement" of this year's annual meeting.

"I am very happy that the people here have been giving credit to the Japanese proposals in this big meeting, as well as in my bilateral meetings with my colleagues," Fukaya said.

The proposals are aimed at restoring developing countries' confidence in the WTO, with a view to the early launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations.

Under the proposals, APEC would identify the capacity-building needs of its developing economy members by November through questionnaires and field studies, and then draft tailor-made strategies for each country.

After the APEC leaders' summit in November in Brunei, those strategies would be implemented with about $40-50 million in funds pooled from member governments, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and a fund set up within APEC.

The assistance will include the transfer of knowledge and skills needed in developing countries to implement WTO agreements, as well as help with the domestic legal frameworks needed for implementation.

Seminars will be held to enhance the skills of developing countries to participate more effectively in international trade negotiations and in the WTO's international dispute mechanisms.

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 consists of 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.

Japanese officials said there was also a positive response to Japan's separate proposals to hold seminars in Peru on Aug. 23 and in the Philippines in October or December on new areas to be tackled by the WTO, namely investment and competition.

They also cited progress on Japan's proposal to have more APEC countries participate in a WTO-backed initiative on market access for exports from least-developed countries (LDCs), with indications that Australia and Singapore would join.

The initiative on LDCs began earlier this year with Japan, the U.S., the European Union and Canada, which committed themselves to extending both tariff-free and quota-free treatment of "essentially all" products originating in LDCs.

So far, in addition to Japan, the U.S. and Canada, APEC members Chile, Hong Kong, South Korea and New Zealand have also signed on to the initiative, as have non-APEC and non-EU members Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Outside the context of the WTO, Fukaya also proposed an economic legal infrastructure project to encourage structural reforms among APEC's member economies.

Japanese officials said the ministers agreed a symposium will be jointly organized by Japan, Australia and Indonesia and held July 20-21 in Jakarta, Indonesia to launch the project.

The ministers also agreed to introduce an electronic filing system to make APEC's trade and investment liberalization process more transparent and easily accessible to business sectors.

Each year, member economies submit their individual action plans on how to liberalize trade and investment for peer review under a plan established by APEC leaders in 1994 to promote freer trade and investment by 2010 for developed economies, and 2020 for developing economies.

So far, it has been a cumbersome process, and excessive paperwork has complicated the reviews.

Under the new system, members will file their plans electronically and APEC will post them on a Web site.