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MEETING. HE TOOK A FAIRLY UPBEAT LINE.
HE NOTED THAT WHEN
APEC WAS BEING FORMED TWO YEARS AGO THE ASEAN MEMBERS HAD BEEN VERY CAUTIOUS. OUT OF CONCERN THAT THE SIZE OF THE US AND JAPANESE ECONOMIES WOULD DOMINATE. THEY (ESPECIALLY INDONESIA AND THAILAND THOUGH NOT MALAYSIA) NOW SEEMED MORE POSITIVE. YAMAGAMI TOOK THAI WILLINGNESS TO ESTABLISH A SECRETARIAT AS A PARTICULARLY
ENCOURAGING SIGN. THE AGREEMENT THAT SENIOR OFFICIALS WOULD STUDY THE QUESTIONS OF A BUDGET AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT FOR APEC IN ITSELF REPRESENTED SOME KIND OF INSTITUTIONALISATION.
4.
A CAUCUS
JAPAN DID NOT SEE HOW APEC AND EAEC COULD CO-EXIST.
OF 11 OUT OF THE 14 MEMBERS WOULD MAKE THE LARGER GROUPING UNWORKABLE. YAMAGAMI AGREE THAT PART OF THE THINKING BEHIND THE JAPANESE OFFER TO CONDUCT A STUDY INTO THE INTERCONNECTIONS BETWEEN ASIA/PACIFIC ECONOMIES WAS THAT THEY EXPECTED IT TO SHOW THAT ANY GROUP WHICH SOUGHT TO EXCLUDE THE US AND JAPAN WOULD BE ECONOMICALLY UNWORKABLE.
SIGNED D H POWELL
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