Some in APEC Still Sought Special Rules

Throughout a just-concluded five-day Pacific Rim meeting here intended to promote freer trade, several economically weaker nations fought to preserve special treatment for developing nations.

Leader of these efforts was Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who blasted the “level playing field” mantra voiced repeatedly by the U.S. in trade negotiations. The trading game remains unfair, Mahathir declared, if “on one side of the field you have giants and on the other side you have pygmies.”

Mahathir’s views were popular among many delegations. But the meeting remained fundamentally a pro-free-trade event.

Not even Mahathir is a knee-jerk protectionist, as evidenced by his ultimate willingness to go along with the key accomplishment of a summit held Monday at the former U.S. naval base of Subic Bay: endorsement of a proposed World Trade Organization pact to slash tariffs on information technology products.

That action by the 18-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, forum could lead to an agreement as early as next month that would cut tariffs to zero by 2000 on products ranging from computers to telecommunications equipment.

“We recognize that the pursuit of liberalization will be good for all of us,” Mahathir said in a speech last week. But “it should nevertheless be approached carefully so as not to cause disruption to industries which are at different stages of development.”

Although APEC’s endorsement of the proposed WTO pact grabbed the spotlight in Manila, much of the effort that went into the meeting was focused on preparation by each country of “individual action plans” outlining trade liberalization steps to be taken in the next few years. These plans are intended to move the group gradually closer to its long-term goal of free trade and investment by 2010 for the developed members and 2020 for the rest.

Among the more important measures are promises of major tariff cuts by Indonesia over the next five years and a pledge by China to cut tariffs to an average of 15% by 2000, after reducing them to an average of 23% this year.

Japan’s plan largely focused on deregulatory measures, including steps to speed the passage of agricultural products through customs. It was not immediately clear if these changes will have a significant effect on California farmers, but Philippine President Fidel Ramos seemed excited about them.

Discussion about technical measures to facilitate the export of papayas from the Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao--where Ramos is trying to stabilize a peace settlement after a decades-long rebellion--was a key topic of a bilateral meeting between Ramos and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto held during the APEC gathering.

In those papayas is a glimpse of what APEC is really aiming for.

“All our efforts--our declarations, our action plans, our commitments to free and open trade and investment--are tied to a vision of shared economic prosperity,” Ramos said. “I am not just talking only about the big players. I am also talking about the small entrepreneur in Java. I am talking about the Mindanao farmer. . . . Let’s go for it!”

* TARIFF CUTS

Eighteen governments OK “info tech” tariff cuts. A1