Pacific Rim Free Trade Advisers Discuss Goals : Commerce: Chairman of Irvine-based Fluor cites the need to remove economic barriers and produce tangible results.

The Pacific Business Forum, a group of business people advising the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, stressed a need to “get things done” at the end of a two-day meeting Saturday.

“We’re a group of business people and we want to see things happen,” Les McCraw, a forum co-chairman and chairman of Irvine-based Fluor Corp., told a news conference.

In a statement, the PBF said it had identified four top priorities for APEC leaders from the 18 member countries around the Pacific Rim when they next meet in Osaka, Japan, on Nov. 15.

Three of these were investment liberalization, business facilitation and development cooperation. The fourth, which the PBF said needs further discussion, is the nature of its successor organization.

Specific areas for action included a schedule of tariff reductions for each member economy, a plan to phase out investment barriers and trade impediments, a dispute settlement mechanism, which would supplement that run by the World Trade Organization, and an easing of restrictions on business travel throughout the region.

“We want to develop a road map which will lead to tangible results,” McCraw said.

The PBF consists of prominent Asia-Pacific business representatives appointed by APEC leaders in June, 1994, to advise them directly on issues which affected business.

The group presented its initial report, called “A Business Blueprint for APEC,” to President Suharto of Indonesia on Sept. 15 last year while he was chairing the last APEC leaders meeting.

At that meeting APEC set a goal of creating free trade in the Asia-Pacific region by no later than 2020.

This year the PBF plans to meet in Tokyo in July and in Newport Beach in early September before presenting its next report to Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama by mid-September.

Co-Chairman Minoru Murofushi, who is also president and chief executive of Itochu Corp., said he and other Japanese businessmen in the group will be pressing their government on a need to lead the process toward trade liberalization.

“As Japan is chairing the APEC process this year, I and my Japanese colleagues feel a specially heavy responsibility to help the Japanese government to make the Osaka leaders’ meeting a big success,” he said.

“The APEC meeting in Osaka will present a good opportunity for Japan to demonstrate Japan’s determination to the goals of liberalization of trade and investment, deregulation and expansion of imports and expansion of markets,” he said.

McCraw said the PBF was optimistic that a positive reaction to their recommendations would emerge when the APEC leaders meet.