TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1993
SAID
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF TRADE CAUTIONS AGAINST REGIONALISM
THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF TRADE, MR TONY MILLER, TODAY (TUESDAY) THE PURSUIT OF REGIONAL CO-OPERATION MUST NOT RESULT IN ARRANGEMENTS WHICH WERE INWARD LOOKING AND DISCRIMINATORY OUTSIDE ECONOMIES.
AGAINST
WHILE SPEAKING ON HONG KONG'S PARTICIPATION IN ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION (APEC) AT A LUNCHEON OF THE HONG KONG EXPORTERS' ASSOCIATION, MR MILLER SAID HONG KONG WAS FIRMLY COMMITTED TO THE MULTILATERAL APPROACH TO TRADE.
GATT.
HONG KONG SAW APEC AS A FORUM WHICH WAS COMPLEMENTARY то THE
SHOULD
"WE ARE STRONGLY OF THE VIEW THAT REGIONAL INITIATIVES NOT BECOME POLICY ALTERNATIVES ΤΟ THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM UNDER THE GATT, HE SAID.
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HE SAID HONG KONG DID NOT WANT TO SEE APEC BLOC, OR ANOTHER SO-CALLED FREE TRADE AREA.
BECOMING A TRADE
MR MILLER NOTED THAT A NUMBER OF IDEAS FOR A MORE STRUCTURED REGIONAL TRADE RELATIONSHIP HAD EMERGED SINCE APEC STARTED, AMONG THEM THE PACIFIC FREE TRADE AREA (PAFTA) AND THE EAST ASIA ECONOMIC CAUCUS (EAEC).
"AS AN ECONOMY THAT HAD THRIVED ON FREE ENTERPRISE AND FREE TRADE, WE MUST NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE ADVERSE IMPLICATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF REGIONALISM, NO MATTER HOW SUPERFICIALLY APPEALING THE CONCEPT," HE SAID.
AND
ALL SELECTIVE TRADE GROUPINGS DISTORT GLOBAL TRADE INVESTMENT FLOWS TO SOME DEGREE. THEY ARE THEREFORE ONLY A POOR SECOND BEST TO GENUINELY FREE GLOBAL TRADE, HE ADDED.
THE NEW IDEA OF A PAFTA HAD FIRST BEEN FLOATED BY DR FRED BERGSTEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE EMINENT PERSONS GROUP OF APEC IN MARCH THIS YEAR.
SEPARATELY, DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD, PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA, HAD MOOTED IN DECEMBER 1990 THE IDEA OF AN ASIAN TRADING BLOC CALLED THE EAST ASIAN ECONOMIC GROUP (EAEG) TO COUNTER THE THREAT POSRD BY OTHER BLOCS, SUCH AS THE EC.
THE PROPOSED BLOC MIGHT INCLUDE THE ECONOMIES IN ASIA, BUT NOT THE NORTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.
"GIVEN HONG KONG'S FIRM COMMITMENT TO THE MULTILATERAL SYSTEM AND AN EARLY AND SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF THE URUGUAY ROUND, WE ARE CONCERNED AT THE WRONG SIGNALS THAT TALK OF THIS TYPE OF ARRANGEMENT WOULD SEND IN THE
MONTHS OF THE URUGUAY ROUND GATT
CLOSING
NEGOTIATIONS.
/"HONG KONG