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Apec officials launch talks to advance free trade agenda

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Senior officials from economies bordering the Pacific rim kicked off a series of meetings on Saturday with the daunting task of advancing free trade and investment following a setback in liberalisation efforts on the global state.

Brunei is host of this year's meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum culminating in a leader's summit in the tiny oil-rich Borneo state's capital Bandar Seri Begawan in November.

Officials from the 21 Apec economies gathered at the Belalong National Park, a lush tropical forest, will spend the weekend deliberating issues ranging from lifting trade barriers to enhancing economic cooperation.

"The jungles of Brunei will be a perfect setting for the senior officials to start work for the year," said Lim Jock Seng, a senior Brunei government official chairing the talks.

"We are aware of our heavy responsibility," he said. With Asian economies now back on the growth path after being derailed by the regional financial crisis which struck in mid-1997, Brunei's job as chair is to consolidate efforts to strengthen the economic recovery.

"I said that because there is no room for complacency," said Lim, the permanent secretary of Brunei's foreign ministry.

Apec leaders in Auckland last year committed to a fast-tracked tariff liberalisation programme which they hoped would receive a significant boost from the launch of a new round of global trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Seattle in December.

As the WTO talks failed to make a breakthrough, APEC economies will have to ensure their proposed accelerated tariff liberalisation programme is not put on the backburner.

Earlier this week, the WTO got moving again in Geneva with the announcement of negotiations from the fourth week of February to further liberalise trade in agriculture and services.

APEC's 21 member economies had a combined gross domestic product of 16 trillion US dollars in 1998 and accounted for 42 percent of global trade.

Brunei wants to make Apec relevant to businesses, particularly to small and medium-scale industries, and strengthen programmes to boost electronic commerce and information technology infrastructure in the region.

Lim said a key challenge that could prove unsettling for developing member economies of Apec was adopting technology in information and communications.

"The pace of change fuelled by the rapid developing in technology ... can however be unsettling for many. It can also offer a new route to a new era of economic prosperity.

"Our cooperation in Apec therefore, must focus on bringing about the opportunities for all in the region," Lim said. AFP