Achieving the FTAAP Is the Destiny of APEC

By Zhou Shixin

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the FTAAP concept proposed by the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2004.

One of the priorities in the themes of the 22nd APEC summit in Beijing is to continuously promote regional economic integration in the Asia Pacific and start the process of the Asia-Pacific FTA (FTAAP). This shows that APEC will evolve into a new era in building a community of the 21 economies in its 25th year.

From the perspective of all the APEC members, the original intention and the ultimate goal of the organization's establishment is to promote regional trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, cooperation of economic technologies, and enhance economic development and common prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. No matter from what point of view you look at it, APEC should achieve FTAAP sooner or later.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the FTAAP concept proposed by the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2004. At that time, FTAAP was expected to be an initiative that could alleviate the negative effect of "spaghetti bowl" phenomenon when various regional trade agreements overlapped. At the same time, it was also once considered as an unrealistic initiative by many countries because it is against some of the principles of APEC, such as open regionalism and concerted action. However, in recent years, the APEC leaders' meetings have made the FTAAP a long-term vision for the future development of APEC. The FTAAP has already shown its inherent appeal as the common fate of APEC members.

This year is also the 20th anniversary of the Bogor Goals, proposed by APEC in 1994. The Bogor Goals are considered as a milestone in achieving the FTAAP. Most of the developed economies in APEC failed to honor their commitments to achieve the Bogor Goals when they gave up achieving the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment in 2010. However, it does not mean that they have no willingness in this regard. Many developed economies were unable to achieve the Bogor Goals after suffering the impact of the international financial crisis. Therefore, it is important and imperative to reboot or amend the Bogor Goals and pathways to achieve them as an important part of building the FTAAP.

Currently, many of APEC member economies are trying to build the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), in hoping to realize the FTAAP in a multilateral way. From the perspective of membership, all the negotiating parties of the TPP are from APEC. These economies can be considered as the vanguards of APEC who are trying to lead the direction of negotiation for the FTAAP in the future. The TPP can be treated as a challenge to achieve the FTAAP, but at the same time, the TPP also sets the mission that the FTAAP must accept and follow. Otherwise, the FTAAP will lose its glamor for the TPP members.

In contrast, the challenges to the FTAAP from Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at the core of ASEAN may be more serious. India and three members of ASEAN, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar in the RCEP, are not yet members of APEC. In this sense, ASEAN members in APEC must give priority to the interests of APEC rather than only ASEAN and strive to fulfill the specific targets of realizing the FTAAP. On the other hand, with the successful implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the RCEP, ASEAN countries will certainly hold a positive and optimistic attitude towards the FTAAP.

It is reported that the APEC summit of this year will adopt the roadmap to achieve the FTAAP, officially launch the FTAAP process, and lay its specific content and development direction in the future. In addition to this, as the host of the APEC in 2015, the Philippines will also take the FTAAP as an important topic, and work to bring the FTAAP into the formal negotiation process. If the FTAAP can learn from the RCEP and the TPP during its negotiation phase, then it is highly likely to be realized by 2025.

In fact, as the APEC leaders declared last year in Bali, APEC should pay more attention to information sharing, enhancing transparency and capacity building in promoting regional economic integration. To a large extent, this was intended to respond the negotiation of TPP as top secret. On the other hand, the practical concerns of the least developed members must be considered during the process of the FTAAP negotiations because APEC members have big differences and divergences. There should be sufficient flexibility and adaptability in the FTAAP while it emphasizes high standards and strict requirements, to make it more attractive during its implementation. Only when the FTAAP can be carried out, will it not be empty talk.

As we imagined, "big regionalism" under the framework of APEC is coming into being. When the FTAAP is formed and ultimately implemented, it can be assumed that APEC has completed its most important mission, and will bring prosperity and glory to all APEC members.

Source: china.org.cn