[asia-apec 1579] Apec "must improve Customs procedures'

[Aaron James]

Straits Times 
SEP 15 2000 

Apec "must improve Customs procedures' 

By NARENDRA AGGARWAL


THE developed countries among the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (Apec) grouping should help developing countries improve their
Customs procedures to promote international trade. 

This was one of the suggestions that emerged from the two-day Apec workshop
on trade facilitation in the Asia-Pacific that ended in Singapore yesterday. 

""It was felt that some of the more developed economies in Apec should
provide technical cooperation to the less developed countries within the
grouping to strengthen their customs administration and standardisation,''
said Mr Stuart Carre, a senior official from the Canadian Foreign Ministry,
which co-sponsored the workshop along with the World Bank. 

The workshop attracted more than 100 participants -- government officials,
academics and private-sector representatives -- from 20 Apec member
countries. Russia was the only country unrepresented. 

The Canadian official told The Straits Times that participants were
concerned over the increasing gap in the transit time taken by goods at the
borders of developing countries within Apec, compared to the time taken at
the borders of developed countries. 

World Bank lead economist John Wilson said ""trade facilitation as a means
of promoting global trade should take a higher profile in the trade agenda
of international bodies like Apec''. 

One of the reasons the Apec workshop had been convened here was ""because
Singapore is a model of trade facilitation'' and the organisers wanted
participants to see the benefits that an open trading system had brought to
the country. 

He said the World Bank had developed an ""Infodev'' programme under which
the resources of the private sector were being pooled with those of the
bank to support e-commerce around the world, especially for the benefit of
small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada chief economist Woo Yuen Pau said the
overall Apec mechanism ""was floundering as nothing substantial had been
achieved''. 

For instance, he said, a recent survey on Customs, standards and business
mobility in the Apec region, done by the foundation for the Apec Business
Advisory Council, showed that Apec's approval rating among businessmen was
only in the 20 per cent range. 

""The response was overwhelmingly negative -- respondents were either
unaware of Apec's efforts or they felt Apec's efforts were not effective. 

""This result is a serious rebuke to Apec, whether interpreted as lack of
action, lack of success, or simply lack of communication,'' Mr Woo noted. 

World Bank's Mr Wilson said that the workshop had taken note of the need to
involve the private sector more closely in Apec activities. 

Recommendations from the workshop would be presented to the Apec leaders at
their summit meeting in Brunei in November. 

Copyright © 2000 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved. 

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