Jun 5, 1985
GREATER OPPORTUNITY IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION.
NEW YORK, JUNE 3 (IFDA/THALIF DEEN) -- The opportunity for trade expansion is greater in the Asia-Pacific region than elsewhere, a United Nations official said Monday. The Executive-Secretary of the Bangkok-based Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) S. A. M. S. Kibria said that according to an ESCAP study the mutual trade of countries within the region totalled 131 billion dollars in 1982 or about eight percent of the global trade. At the same time, he said, trade among developing ESCAP countries amounted to about 41 billion dollars within the same period. Kibria was speaking at the opening of the first session of the second round of Trade Negotiations among developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The five day meeting, which began Monday in the South Korean capital of Seoul, has been organised by ESCAP in cooperation with the South Korean government. The session is being partly funded by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Kibria pointed out that except for Japan, all countries in the region experienced a higher rate of growth of exports to countries within than to those outside the region. The intra-regional exports of Third World nations, taken as a group, grew at 17 percent, while their exports to countries outside the region increased by only nine percent. "The evidence presented in the study", he argued, "supports the conclusion that the opportunity for the expansion of trade has been greater within the region than elsewhere". At present one of the most vibrant of the regional economic alliances in the Association of South East Asian nations (ASEAN) comprising Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei. Kibria said that, as a result of the dismal international economic environment of the early 1980’s, the developing countries could no longer count heavily on the traditional markets for their exports. Nevertheless he was confident that the developing countries could do much by themselves to improve their trading prospects. "With its huge labour force, and its endowment with many natural resources, the potential production capacity of the developing countries in the region is enormous", he said, "equally, the potential market available within those countries is vast". He stressed that to grasp the opportunities, the Third World countries in the region should prepare to change, to think in terms of long-term prospects and work together and cooperate. Regional trade expansion could be used as an engine for the realisation of that objective, he noted. He advised participants to increase trade through the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, including long-term agreement and joint ventures. He suggested that an appropriate institutional set-up might be necessary to initiate, plan and implement, on a continuing basis, an integrated approach to intra-regional trade expansion. The Asian Clearing Union, for example, which was conceived as a regional trade facilitation measure, had been progressing steadily largely due to its organisational structure. Kibria pointed out that the ACU board of governors, composed of Central Bank Governors of the participating countries, had appealed for the expansion of membership, not only of the ACU but also of the Bangkok agreement on tariff preferences. The ACU composes Bangladesh, Burma, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Bangkok agreement, which provides tariff cuts averaging 36 percent on 146 selected products, has as signatories Bangladesh, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka.