weekof10april2006-thursday

happy easter!!

---

Week of 10/4/06                                                                             Edition#1

 

Dear RegionsWatcher,

 

If this week’s entry were a song, I would probably commit a plagiarism by calling it “Big in Japan” after that 1982/3 hit by Alphaville.

 

No explanations really except to say that two articles—the first and the last—are predominantly about the growing desire of Japan to offset CHINA in its free-trade market promiscuity. So acute has the desire to beat the CHINESE been that the Japanese have seen it fit to establish what they call “the formation of a vast Asian economic free-trade zone that would cover about half the global population and rival the EU and Nafta markets.” This zone would comprise sixteen countries, including China and India.

 

The first reason given, if article one is anything to go by, is  in order to perform the platitudinous refrain that comes with regional integration: “accelerate East Asia’s economic integration”. It is estimated that the “combined economic output” would be 9.1 TRILLION US dollars. Let’s face it: this is not without reason, for this putative, or so-called, grouping would have, by way of population, a good 3bn people, which is just under half of the world’s population.

 

“Ambitious” is more than an understatement.

 

Already, Japan has concluded a number of economic partnership agreements, “which include not only free trade but also protection of intellectual property and other broader issues, with Singapore, Mexico and Malaysia”. So tells us AFP in article one.

 

As for the last article, entitled “New trade dan in land of rising sun”, we are given an insight into The [Australian} Age’s Deborah Cameron’s view of where Japan is going with these big ideas.

 

The article opens that Japan wants “Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and South-East Asia to join in an economic community that would eclipse one-to-one free trade pacts.”

 

While Australian officials, the article maintains, have expressed scepticism at the Japanese proposal, we, observers, are left to ruminate over the motivation for this deal. CHINA, CHINA, and more CHINA.

 

Even before the article touched on this, we oculd have guessed it for ourselves. After all, for how long have Japan and China not been competing with each other for goods and markets? While Japan has the “ferocious resistance of its agriculture ministry”, China has just simply gone ahead in a quasi-filibustering manner in a perfect epitome of what one observer called “market promiscuity”.

 

This is a strange game the two are playing, in RegionsWatch’s view, considering how pivotal both these two countries have been in dynamising the ASEAN region. No-one can deny the immense benefits the SMEs of both these two countries have brought to the ASEAN region. That they refuse to join ASEAN in a formal sense, one suspects, stems more from solipsistic desires of protecting their markets. By forming ASEAN-Plus groupings instead, they are able to maintain their quasi-hegemonic status in the region.

 

Article number two is a funny gem: India wanting to expand its ties with the ECOWAS region. This is interesting to note-not just because India is also keen to expand its hegemonic status and, by extension, its tentacles throughout Africa in the manner akin to the Chinese, but also because India is in itself very keen to join the ASEAN market in a special relationship. ASEAN , clearly, is all the rage these days.

 

Whilst the UN and its regional commissions meet over North African integration efforts (article#4), we can sigh a hugh sigh of relief that North Arfrica, thanks to the UN, is getting its act together-finally.

 

As for protests and Latin America, these days, the two are almost mutually exclusive. It is little wonder, therefore, that we find that protests have marred the meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank, a bank based in Washington D.C., seeking—so goes its mandate—to act as a “key source of funding for government projects while expanding loans to the private sector…”

 

If this article is anything to go by, it appears that much like the World Bank, the IDB is more a source of frustration than one of hope-building for regional integration efforts in the region.

 

Happy Regions Watching!

Emmanuel.K.Bensah

RegionsWatch Creator/Editor

 

 

 

ARTICLES

 

1. Japan pushes massive Asian free-trade zone
2. India to expand trade ties with West Africa
3. Violent protests disrupt IDB's opening ceremony
4. Experts meet on North African integration
5. New trade dawn in land of rising sun

 

1. Japan pushes massive Asian free-trade zone

From: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=80270&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28

 

Published: Wednesday, 5 April, 2006, 11:58 AM Doha Time

TOKYO: Japan said yesterday it will propose the formation of a vast Asian economic free-trade zone that would cover about half the global population and rival the EU and Nafta markets. The 16-nation proposal would include China and India, the world’s two fastest growing major economies, along with the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) and Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. The push comes as Japan’s relations with its biggest trading partner China remain tense and it worries that it is slipping behind in securing bilateral free-trade pacts with Asian countries. Japan will propose starting negotiations in 2008 for the conclusion of the pact in 2010, Trade Minister Toshihiro Nikai told reporters. He is set to present the idea formally at a governmental economic council meeting on Friday. “The first reason for this is to accelerate East Asia’s economic integration which is already in the process of happening,” said trade ministry official Takeshi Fujimoto. The East Asian Economic Partnership Agreement could form a market larger than the North American Free Trade Agreement or European Union, grouping 3bn people or about half of the global population. Combined economic output would be $9.1tn, one quarter of the world figure, according to 2004 data. Some pundits were skeptical of such an ambitious plan in such a divided region, especially with China and South Korea ever mindful of Japan’s wartime record and quick to be suspicious of its motives. “There is no way this could be realised soon,” said Kenichi Odawara, an author and former professor of international politics and economy. “Plans for an East Asian community have come and gone many times in the past decades but the worst (problem) was Japan, which wanted to export industrial products while protecting its agriculture.” Odawara noted the Japanese plan “does not include Taiwan, whose economic presence is significant”, out of fear of angering Beijing which sees the island as an integral part of China. The top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday that Japan would propose the free-trade bloc as it has been lagging behind China and South Korea in concluding free trade pacts in the region. Fujimoto, the trade official, said Japan was not necessarily lagging behind but that “South Korea and China are active in drawing up strategies or setting up goals to form economic partnerships” in the region. “Japan should not be late in this trend and needs to lead economic integration in this region,” said Fujimoto, who is in charge of promoting economic partnerships with other nations. Japan has concluded economic partnership agreements which include not only free trade but also protection of intellectual property and other broader issues, with Singapore, Mexico and Malaysia. – AFP

 

Gulf Times Newspaper, 2006

2. India to expand trade ties with West Africa

From: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1477855.cms

 

NEW DELHI: India will discuss the expansion of its economic engagement with West African countries when a nine-member delegation from the region holds talks with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam here on Wednesday.

The delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), headed by Aichatou Mindaudou, Niger's minister of foreign affairs and cooperation and African integration, will also meet Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma and discuss ways to boost India's trade with West African countries.

The ECOWAS delegation is likely to urge India, an observer at the regional trade forum, to step up its investment in infrastructure, including a rail project, in West Africa.

"The meeting will help define the roadmap of future relations between India and West African states and possible development of initiatives for closer political and trade cooperation and cooperation in multilateral forums," external affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters here on Tuesday.

 

ECOWAS, a regional organisation comprising 15 nations, was formed in 1975 to achieve economic integration and shared development so as to form a unified economic zone in West Africa.

Later, its scope was enhanced to include socio-political interaction and security issues.

India's relationship with ECOWAS received a boost recently through the implementation of a slew of high profile projects funded through bilateral lines of credit under the Techno-Economic Approach for Africa-India Movement (TEAM-9) and New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) initiatives.

Bilateral trade with the ECOWAS region currently stands at $2.11 billion and accounts for 27 percent of India's total exports to Africa and 18 percent of the country's total imports from the continent.

3.  Violent protests disrupt IDB's opening ceremony

From: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/miamiherald/business/14255385.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_business

 

 

Debt relief was the main theme at the Inter- American Development Bank's annual meeting, but violent protests marred the opening ceremony.

BY ALAN CLENDENNING

Associated Press

ERALDO PERES/AP

PROTEST: Cacique Evara Mirin, of the Guarani tribe, smokes a pipe while camping out in front of the National Congress building in Brasilia, Brasil, Tuesday.

More photos

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil - THREE LINES FOR MBZ 04IDB

Bolivian President Evo Morales led a handful of impoverished Latin American countries seeking sweeping debt relief at a key regional economic forum on Monday, but violent protests marred the start of the event.

As senior finance officials from 47 nations opened the Inter-American Development Bank's annual meeting at an elegant state government palace, hundreds of protesters opposed to the bank's lending practices clashed with police at two sites more than a kilometer from the gathering, local media reported, with two police officers and a photographer injured.

The protesters also trashed the reception area of a building owned by Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais, one of Brazil's largest utilities, and a recipient of IDB loans. Critics of the bank say it gives too many loans that benefit big business and don't help Latin America's masses of poor.

Four police officers and four private security guards were injured in that clash, CEMIG spokesman Laudo David told the newspaper Estado de Minas. Protest organizers said an unknown number of protesters were injured and 10 were taken into custody by authorities.

Morales, a strident leftist who took office in January, and Honduras' newly elected leader are expected to lobby hard at the three-day meeting for the bank to forgive as much as $3.5 billion owed by the Andean nation, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Morales said debt relief is needed to help Bolivia ease the misery of the 67 percent of the nation's 8.5 million citizens living in poverty. The country owes $1.6 billion to the IDB and Morales wants the entire amount forgiven.

''We want to end this exclusion and this marginalization,'' Morales said. Bolivia's ``poor and its Indians only want to live decently.''

But Latin America's two biggest powerhouses -- Brazil and Mexico -- are balking at supporting the write-off unless richer nations foot the bill.

The bank is owned by its member countries, mainly from the Western Hemisphere, but it also includes European nations, plus Japan, Israel and South Korea.

Morales, the country's first Indian leader, will rub shoulders with Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, a wealthy agricultural landowner, who also took office in January.

Brazil is to head a special committee charged with coming up with a financing solution for the five-nation debt relief package by the end of the year, said Clay Lowery, the U.S. Treasury Department's assistant secretary for international affairs.

Lowery said the U.S. delegation is proposing a complicated structured-financing arrangement that will relieve debt while not hurting the IDB's balance sheet. If that method is adopted, the debt would not be paid by the rich nations.

Another prickly topic emerged on the sidelines of the forum: Bolivia's plan to nationalize its vast natural-gas resources and how that will affect Petróleo Brasileiro, Brazil's state-owned petroleum company.

Morales campaigned to wring more profits from the foreign gas producers and Petrobras is a major producer in Bolivia, where production was privatized in the 1990s. Brazil is Bolivia's biggest gas client.

The Bolivian leader is seeking to convince Brazil to increase investment in Bolivia's gas production and accept higher prices.

But negotiations have stalled over Morales' vaguely defined plan to nationalize gas resources.

Morales met Monday with Marco Aurélio Garcia, the special advisor for international affairs of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Garcia said the two sides agreed to resume talks, but he did not offer details.

Delegates at the IDB meeting, one of Latin America's most important annual economic forums, will discuss how the bank can improve the region's crumbling infrastructure, boost economies, promote regional integration and improve living standards for Latin Americans and Caribbean citizens living in misery.

Luis Alberto Moreno, a longtime Colombian ambassador to Washington elected last year to a five-year term as head of the bank, is overseeing the meeting for the first time.

Moreno wants to maintain the Washington, D.C.-based bank's role as a key source of funding for government projects while expanding loans to the private sector, a move the United States supports. He also advocates small-scale Latin American development projects for the region's poor that can serve as examples for more expensive efforts.

The IDB's mission is to foster sustainable economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean through low-interest loans, leadership in regional initiatives, research, education and other programs.

4.

======

4. Experts meet on North African integration

From: http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=430349

Rabat, Morocco 04/05 -- The 21st meeting of experts of the Intergovernmental Committee of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Office for North Africa opened here Tuesday to review regional integration programmes.

The two-day meeting gathers representatives of UN agencies, multilateral, regional and sub-regional organisations, representatives of the private sector, training and research institutions, as well as NGOs.

The issues on the agenda include economic performance of North African countries in 2005, development of regional economic organisations, trade aspects of regional integration, judicious water management challenges and sustainable environment.

The outcomes of the meeting will be submitted to the next conference of African ministers of finance, planning and economic development slated in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 10 to 15 May.

5. New trade dawn in land of rising sun

From: http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/new-trade-dawn-in-land-of-rising-sun/2006/04/04/1143916528943.html

By Deborah Cameron
April 5, 2006

AdvertisementAdvertisement

JAPAN wants Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and South-East Asia to join in an economic community that would eclipse one-to-one free trade pacts.

It would be the world's biggest trade zone and marketplace adding about ¥25 trillion ($A300 billion) to the economies of the participating countries, according to Japan's Ministry or Economy, Trade and Industry.

Tokyo has seized on the idea, which is expected to be unveiled later this week, to counteract the buzz about China which has set the pace for trade pacts.

Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister, Toshihiro Nikai said he wanted talks on the region-wide agreement to start in 2008 and conclude by 2010. "Trying to launch such negotiations as well as trying to conclude them might be considered ambitious," said Takeshi Fujimoto, a ministry official.

"But with discussions for east Asian economic integration on the rise, we don't think it's something you should spend a lot of time studying."

The contest between Japan, the region's largest economy, and China is an inescapable fact in the debate. China has also advocated a new Asian economic zone and the two countries would be rivals for the leadership of any new community.

The two countries are a study in contrast. China has raced ahead signing free trade agreements, while Japan faces the ferocious resistance of its agriculture ministry.

Only last week China said that it wanted progress on a Free Trade Agreement with Australia to be speeded up. Meanwhile, talks on free trade between Australia and Japan, our biggest trading partner, are still in the feasibility stage. Both nations want to conclude the initial phase by the end of the year, but an Australia-Japan free trade deal remains years off, according to officials close to the talks.

With Japan unable to quickly conclude one-on-one trade negotiations with friendly countries, a deal that involves 15 neighbours will take a mind shift by Japanese negotiators. But the involvement of Japan's economy and trade minister, Mr Nikai, as the political salesman for the new plan points to the seriousness of Tokyo's intent, as he is widely viewed as the cabinet minister with the best connections in China.

Australian trade officials have expressed scepticism about the Japanese proposal. "It would be very complicated to negotiate a free trade agreement with all those countries," said a spokeswoman for Trade Minister Mark Vaile. "The Japanese haven't spoken to us about this. We look forward to speaking about it in the lead up to the east Asia summit later this year."

Last year Foreign Minister Alexander Downer floated plans for the ASEAN group to form a single-east Asian community.

- With TIM COLEBATCH