Apec free-trade deal expected to complement regional pacts

Business leaders of the 21 economies belonging to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) are looking forward to freer trade across the region that would be complementary to two other free trade deals led by the US and Asean.

The Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) also welcomed the institution by yearend of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is seen to fill the gap in infrastructure financing in the region.

“Our work through the years has been underpinned by our firm conviction that an open, predictable and transparent environment for the free flow of goods, services and investments is a necessary condition to generating new growth opportunities and in responding to this changing dynamics of the global economy. A Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) provides the comprehensive framework for achieving this enabling environment and so we welcome developments toward its realization,” Abac 2015 chair Doris Magsaysay-Ho said in a press conference Monday.

“The completion of the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership] negotiations is also a significant step as we build pathways to the FTAAP and encourage the RCEP [Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership] negotiations to come to a successful conclusion soon,” Ho added.

Ho was referring to the recently signed TPP, a free trade agreement (FTA) grouping 12 Pacific Rim countries led by the US as well as the Asean-led RCEP that will include China and Southeast Asia’s regional FTA partners.

Meanwhile, initiatives aimed at building additional infrastructure and generating more funds for such projects are being supported by Abac, including the establishment of the AIIB.

Hiroyuki Suzuki, chair of Abac’s finance and economics working group, noted the big infrastructure gap in the region, earlier estimated by Manila-based multilateral lender Asian Development Bank at $8 trillion. “There is a huge demand for money needed for infrastructure investments to take place. Filling this gap is an issue for this region.”

While it will be up to governments of member-economies to join the AIIB, the private sector sees infusion of more funds by multilateral institutions, including the AIIB, to help fill the gap in infrastructure financing.

But Suzuki stressed that there should be transparency in projects and good governance in running the AIIB.