Asia Pacific trade officials to flesh out new pact

Officials from eight Pacific Rim countries will meet in Australia this week for tough negotiations which could potentially reshape regional trade relationships.

The five-day talks, which kick off in Melbourne today, bring together senior diplomatic officials from Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the US.

8th Pacific Rim conference in Shanghai China

“This is the first time that they have met with the express purpose and the political backing to talk about this particular negotiation,” said Deborah K. Elms, a trade expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

The discussions are expected to set the framework for negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership which could in the future include the major economies of China, Japan and South Korea and key Southeast Asian nations.

Elms, who has spoken to all the lead negotiators, said the pact was meant to be very broad and encompass all areas of trade but the countries involved were diverse, with specific areas of disagreement including dairy, beef, textiles and intellectual property.

“This is not going to be an easy negotiation. And I think that most of the trade officials recognise that this is going to be difficult,” she said.

“This one will talk about agriculture, this one will talk about investment, it will talk about government procurement – so it will be an agreement which will be unusual.”

Whether the Trans Pacific pact will override the profusion of bilateral trade deals which have sprung up in recent years, is not known, Elms said.

“The language everyone is using is that it will replace existing negotiations because then you can make an argument that if you replace all these existing, overlapping rules it streamlines trade,” she said.

“But then, when you follow that up with, ‘Are you willing to give up the concessions or the benefits that you got out of existing agreements?’ the answer has been ‘no’.”

Elms said what made better economic sense was to bring in more countries.

“You get the most benefits by far if you can get at least one of the big north east Asian countries, either a China, a Japan or a Korea,” she said.

“One of those three or two of those would be fantastic because now you are talking about real market access and real benefits.” (AFP)

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