Tasks Ahead for Asia Pacific Economies

Abstract

For the past 25 years.Japan and Australia, with a common interest in the Asia Pacific economic development, have jointly been promoting the economic cooperation among the Asia Pacific countries.The two countries took strong initiative in the start and have closely cooperated in the continuance of such Asia Pacific cooperative bodies as PBEC, PAFTAD, PECC, and APEC.The Japanese-Australian partnership has been most successful in the Pacific cooperation activities.
At the forthcoming Ministerial/Leaders meetings in Seattle.APEC will reach the new higher stage of economic cooperation.The building of Asia Pacific Economic Community will be proposed and there will start the discussion of how to implement the economic community.It will be different from European Economic Community.The Asia Pacific economies are different in resource endowments, size, development stage, and economic system but they achieved rapid development through active trade and investment taking advantage of economic complementality among themselves.The full-fledged institutional integration in European Community is neither feasible nor necessary in Asia Pacific.
It will be a loosely structured organization (as envisaged as Open Economic Association, OEA) for a wide range of cooperative activities such as trade and investment liberalization, fascilitation through harmonization of rules and standards and policy consultaion, technical cooperation in building public infrastructure and nurturing human resources.All member economies will maintain their autonomy in economic policies.It will not discriminate against nonmember countries in conformity of ‘open regionalism’.Supported by the joint commitment by all member economies with sustaining growth and cooperation in Asia Pacific, it will enhance the certainty and stability of the region.thereby attraction private enterprises of members and nonmembers alike.