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During the period under review, Committee on Trade and Tourism (COTT) held its 31st Meeting in Bali, Indonesia on 3-5 September 1991. The Meeting reviewed the implementation progress of initiatives endorsed at the Third ASEAN Summit in 1987 in the areas of trade and tourism.
ASEAN Preferential Trade Arrangement
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On the implementation of the Protocol on Improvement and Extension of Tariff Preferences under the Preferential Trading Arrangement (PTA), member countries have taken steps to ensure timely implementation of their respective programmes. All members have implemented the 1991 programmes and have confirmed to implement their programmes for 1992. Under these programmes, a total number of PTA items rose from 15,295 in 1990 to 15,818 item in 1991 as more than 500 new items have been introduced and accorded a minimum Margin of Preferences (MOPS) of 25%.
Non-Tariff Barriers
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On the status of implementation of the MOU on Standstill and Rollback of NTMs, member countries continued to hold bilateral negotiations under the Trade Preferential Negotiating Group (TPNG) but no positive results have been shown up to date. However, some member countries have been carrying out their own liberalisation of non- tariff measures (ntms). It was agreed that member countries should submit the information on ntms to ASEAN Secretariat for onward submission to private sector of ASEAN.
lntra-ASEAN Cooperation in Commodities
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With regard to the 8-point initiatives in the area of cooperation on commodities as agreed by the Third ASEAN Summit, it was noted at the 31st Meeting of COTT that the implementation of the new initiatives on commodities saw little progress. Two out of the 8 point initiatives have been transformed into project proposals which were endorsed by the 22nd AEM and submitted for funding assistance to UNDP namely the ASEAN Data Bank on Commodities (ADBC) and ASEAN Commodities Market Studies (ACMS). But the 31st Meeting of COTT noted that the project proposals were not included in the list of UNDP for the 5th Cycle and requested the ASEAN Secretariat to reconsult with UNDP with a view to restoring these commodities in the list.
ASEAN Trade Fair
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The implementation of the Fifth ASEAN Trade Fair (ATF) 1991 programme at the Putra World Trade Center (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur has been held successfully on 8-13 October 1991. The Trade Fair has given ample opportunity to ASEAN traders as well as to buyers from outside ASEAN to gain better information on trade opportunity and growth in ASEAN with the aim to promote intra-ASEAN trade, investment and tourism as well as promoting the region as a unit vis-a-vis the rest of the world.
Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations
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On the Uruguay Round, ASEAN continued to coordinate position at the negotiation and as a group ASEAN still hopes that an early solution can be reached as this is essential to the strength and vitality of the multilateral trading system.
Trade Restrictive Measures Affecting ASEAN Exports
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As follow up to the decision of the 21st AEM Meeting on the 7-point common approaches on trade restrictive measures against ASEAN exports, an ASEAN Experts Group was established to study the manifestation and implications of Anti-dumping, countervailing duties actions and other trade restrictive measures affecting ASEAN. The 1st Meeting of the Expert Group on 15-16 August 1991 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, noted that the Group was not able to consider all agenda items that were assigned to it. The 23rd AEM Meeting in Kuala Lumpur however, agreed that the Working Group should continue to work and coordinate closely with ASEAN Secretariat.
International Commodity Issues
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The spill over effect of the anti-vegetable oil campaign has created difficulties for ASEAN to market tropical vegetable oils, particularly palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut oil to the international market. In this regard, ASEAN agreed to continue seeking cooperation from the US to undertake joint efforts such as research on the health aspects of the tropical oils, conducting seminars/workshops with a view to imparting correct information on the nutritional and health aspects of tropical oils to the world consumers.
Joint Consultation with Private Sector
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During the 31st Meeting of COTT, a consultative meeting was conducted with ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASEAN-CCI) to explore new measures to improve cooperation between the public and private sectors of the trade industry. The 31st Meeting of COTT noted that on the establishment of the ASEAN-CCI Trade Information Network (ASEANet) the ITC-Geneva would, on behalf of ASEAN-CCI, seek donors to assist in meeting the cost of the software and technical training for ASEAN-CCI constituents. New Measures to Further Strengthen ASEAN Economic Cooperation
Trade Relations with Dialogue Partners
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With regard to ASEAN's trade with its dialogue partners, COTT reaffirmed the importance of continued close consultation with the major trading partners. This trend continued to grow and the Senior Economic Officials would continue to be involved in the dialogue process and modelled along with the consultative mechanisms under the ASEAN-US initiatives.
Cooperation in Tourism
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The Sub-Committee on Tourism convened its 29th Meeting on 20-22 January 1992 in Penang, Malaysia. The Meeting coincided with the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF'92) which, as in the past, was attended by 1244 delegates of buyers and sellers from all over the world as well as officials and private sectors of ASEAN. It was also noted at the 29th Meeting of SCOTT that for ATF 1993 and 1994, Philippines and Singapore have confirmed their readiness to host the ATF respectively.
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Projects in the purview of SCOT have also been progressing well. Familiarisation programme for Korean tour operators and the Korean Language Training for tour guides were among those projects which have been completed satisfactorily. Positive results may be expected from the Korean assistance for Visit ASEAN Year 1992 campaign in the form of production and distribution of materials published in Korean market. The second phase of the Korean Language Training programme for tour guides, comprises training packages for the tourism industry and a train-the- trainer program in Korea will be implemented in 1992.
