SUNS4504 Tuesday 7 September 1999

Development: Latin America, East Asia build ties



Singapore, Sep 6 (IPS/Kalinga Seneviratne ) -- East Asia has long been used to dealing with Europe and North America, but has now moved to plug the "missing link" in its overseas ties -- with Latin America.

The two regions formed the East Asia-Latin America Forum (Ealaf) here last week, in a three-day meeting ending Sep 3 that brought together senior officials from 27 countries in Latin America,East Asia and the Pacific.

The newest international grouping is the brainchild of Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who proposed the idea during a visit to Chile last October. Chile will host the first ministerial meeting of Ealaf in the first quarter of 2001.

Singapore coined the phrase "missing link" in promoting the formation of the new grouping, since East Asia's economic and political ties with Latin America are the weakest compared to relations with North America and Europe.

"The missing link is now between Asia and Latin America. In a global economy, this gap prevents both regions from mutually exploiting their enormous economic potential," Singapore's Foreign Minister, S Jayakumar, told the Ealaf meeting here.

"We have taken the most important first step," observed Christian Barros, head of Chile's delegation, at a post-meeting press conference here. "We have a lot of problems, thousands of miles divide us, we speak a different language. But, we have the spirit to start the dialogue, Barros said.

Indeed, for some of the Latin American delegates to the Singapore meeting, it was the first time they travelled to Asia.

East Asia is linked to North America through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which has only three Latin American economies (Chile, Argentina, Peru) as members. It has annual dialogue with Europe through the more recent Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Though no one would say it publicly, analysts here also believe that if Ealaf succeeds, it will not boost Asia-Latin American ties but help to reduce US economic dominance in Asia -- for which many developing countries see APEC as a vehicle.

Trade ties between East Asia and Latin America have much room for improvement.

In 1997, only 2.6 percent of East Asia's exports went to Latin America and only 4.3 percent of Latin American exports went to Asia. If Japan is excluded, this figure comes down to 1.1 percent.

Yet Jayakumar says the forum is not only about trade or economics, since the two regions need to know each other a lot more.

"The real barriers are perhaps more profound and psychological," he observed. "For most of us, including Singapore, contacts have hitherto been only sporadic and Latin America is still a vast, largely unexplored, and ill-understood continent."

Pointing out the Asia and Latin America do not have a regular forum, Argentina's delegation head Marcelo Avogadro agreed: "There has been a psychological distance."

"We must take the long-term perspective and create networks to get to know each other better and find out how we can complement each other," added Chile's Ambassador to Singapore, Carlos Aroca.

Several Asian countries, however, have more interaction with Latin American than others.

In the years before the Asian crisis, Malaysia has been stepping up overseas investments and air links with Latin America. The Philippines has traditionally had more ties with Latin America, given the Hispanic colonial heritage it shares with many Latin American nations.

During the meeting here, officials agreed that any country which proposes a project must fund and coordinate it and implementation could begin soonest. This is designed to remove the usual lengthy lead time of multilaterally funded projects.

"In just two days of conversation, many ideas were proposed and this may have taken two to three years in other forums," said Paraguay's delegation chief, Miguel Solano Lopez.

Thailand's delegation leader Dr Somkiati Ariyapruchya agreed, saying "the process has been a very speedy one".

More than 20 initiatives were proposed during the meeting, with Singapore taking the lead by proposing three projects including an economic study to boost inter-regional trade.

Singapore will also sponsor two journalists from Latin America to visit Singapore for a week each year and has asked other Asian countries to join in this project.

Chile proposed a seminar to be held in Latin America that will expound to East Asia the possibilities that exist there.

China has offered to host a seminar on regional economic cooperation in the Western Hemisphere, including the Latin American experience in economic cooperation.

Mexico has offered 15 scholarships for East Asian students to study Latin American issues and Spanish at its institutes.

Argentina offered to compile a database of economic and political data on forum members.

Bilahari Kausikan, head of Singapore's delegation, says understanding between the two regions will come gradually. "This will take three or four meetings to establish," he warned. "We all have a great deal of learning to do of each other. We have just started the voyage of discovery."

Asked whether the work of Ealaf and APEC could overlap, Kausikan said Ealaf is an organisation of sovereign nations while APEC members are economies, not governments. Thus, he argued, Ealaf has a broader focus.

"APEC has nothing to do with this forum," he told IPS. "It's an economic and commercial forum. We will take up social, cultural and political issues. Political issues are very important to us."
"We are witnessing the birth of a child," observed Mexico's Ambassador to Singapore, Eduardo Ramos Gomez in describing the formation of Ealaf. "We don't know whether he will be fat or tall. We cannot have too many expectations."

The countries at last week's the meeting were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia, Burma, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.