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Oil prices a hot topic at APEC finance ministers meet |
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September 10, 2000
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers joined other finance ministers from the 21 biggest Pacific Rim economies Saturday in a two-day meeting focused on rising oil prices and the fallout of rapid globalization. The official agenda for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum talks, prelude to a summit of national leaders in November, centered on strengthening financial markets, banks and social safety nets against future crises like the one that gutted East Asian economies in 1997 and 1998. But soaring petroleum prices threatened to dominate the meeting, held in the oil-rich sultanate of Brunei. The Asia-Pacific talks end Sunday, hours ahead of a meeting in Vienna of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Some nations here hope a statement can encourage the oil producers to raise supply in an effort to bring prices down before winter strikes importers in the northern hemisphere and threatens economic growth through shortages and rising inflation. "Everybody has spoken on the issue, whether as a producer or as a consumer, (and) has expressed some degree of concern," a senior U.S. official told reporters on condition of anonymity. Addressing reporters en route to Brunei, Summers said that he expects APEC finance ministers to focus on oil prices and also the need to push ahead with financial reforms despite the improvement in Asian economies since the crisis of three years ago. Oil prices are a sensitive issue within APEC, which includes major petroleum exporters such as Indonesia and Mexico, and big importers like the United States and Japan. Oil producing nations, noting they had to cope with deeply depressed crude prices not long ago, "emphasized the need for stability," while representatives of oil importing members of APEC "said this is a problem, especially for the poor," the senior U.S. official said. Meanwhile, New Zealand, co-chairing the APEC financial ministers' meeting with host country Brunei, said in a statement that it would use the meeting to promote its initiative for "freer and more stable capital flows in the APEC region." The rapidly increasing volume and speed of international capital flows have proved overwhelming for many Asia-Pacific countries. Inability to cope with the situation was widely blamed for the Asian economic meltdown three years ago, in which currencies crashed, banks failed and stock markets nose-dived. "My government in New Zealand is particularly concerned about improving the welfare of the poorest in our economy," New Zealand Treasurer and Finance Minister Michael Cullen said in opening remarks Saturday. "We fully support APEC's goal to deliver greater prosperity to the people of the Asia-Pacific region by pursuing sustained and sustainable economic growth," he said. This weekend's meetings precede an APEC leaders' summit in November, shortly after the U.S. elections. The meeting in Brunei, a tiny nation on the northern part of Borneo island, could be one of the last Bill Clinton makes as U.S. president. Clinton was a vocal booster of APEC in the early years of his presidency. The group aims to achieve free trade and investment among its members by 2020, but critics say it both too large, lacking the cohesion of smaller groupings like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and too weak, unable to enforce decisions like the World Trade Organization. APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. |