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ndia-China RTA talks in "suitable time": Chinese envoy

March 10, 2008

China and India, the two Asian trading giants, will initiate negotiations for a Regional TradingArrangement (RTA) at a "suitable time", Chinese Ambassador to the country, Zhang Yan hassaid.

China and India will work to expand mutual investment and initiate negotiations on RTA in asuitable time, Zhang said in his first public address after taking over as Beijing's new envoy to New Delhi.

In 2003, India and China established a Joint Study Group to examine the potential for economicengagement between the two booming Asian giants. Further, a Joint Task Force has finalised itsreport on the feasibility of an India-China Regional Trading Arrangement (RTA).

According to the feasibility report, an India-China (RTA) will be "mutually advantageous," a joint declaration issued during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's maiden visit to China inJanuary had said.

"Against the backdrop of accelerating regional economic integration in Asia, the two sides agreeto explore the possibility of commencing discussions on a mutually beneficial and high-qualityRTA that meets the common aspirations of both countries, and will also benefit the region," itsaid.

Speaking at a reception held last week in his honour by Unity International Foundation, a non-

governmental organisation, Zhang said he firmly believed that the rising of China and Indiaeconomically will not only benefit the people of the two countries, but would also contribute tothe peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and the whole world.

China targets $60 billion trade with India by 2010: According to Zhang Van, China hopes tomeet an ambitious target of $60 billion of bilateral trade with India by 2010, Speaking at a dinner

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meeting organised by Unity International Foundation last week, Mr Zhang said, “Sino-Indianrelations have been progressing on the fast track in all spheres. The two sides pledged to promote building a harmonious world of durable peace and common prosperity through developing'Strategic and Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity'."

The meeting was attended by the Kerala Governor, Mr RL Bhatia, former Governor Mr Bhisma Narain Singh, Ambassadors of Germany, Mr Jordan, Tunisia and the Arab League, besides thegeneral secretary of the foundation, Mr RN Anil.

Mr Bhatia said India’s relations with China were based on the principles of ‘Panchsheel’. Thetwo countries have shown determination to further enhance their ties in all sectors.

Mr Bhisma Narain Singh and Mr Anil also spoke of strong bilateral ties between the two

countries. They appreciated Unity International’s contribution towards strengthening relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Commerce to the fore for Delhi and BeijingBy Pallavi Aiyar

BEIJING - When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singhvisits China next week, he will be accompanied by a 25-odd member business delegation comprising the big gunsof India Inc from a range of manufacturing and informationtechnology sectors.

Four hundred members of China's business andgovernment community will gather at a January 14 summitin Beijing, organized by the China Council for thePromotion of International Trade (CCPIT), to meet withthese captains of Indian industry. Ideas will be exchangedfor diversifying the economic engagement

across the Himalayas. A few business deals will also be

signed.

The highlight of the meeting will be an address byManmohan, who is expected to spell out his vision of the potentially formidable trade and investment relationship between two of the world's fastest-growing economies. TheIndian premier's message will likely emphasize thenecessity of developing a multi-faceted bilateral

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engagement, away from a one-dimensional focus on thetwo countries' border disputes.

In line with the recent stress on commerce rather thanconflict, Manmohan will underline the significance of Mumbai and Shanghai, as much as New Delhi and Beijing,in determining the contours of Sino-Indian ties goingforward.

Over the past few years, border negotiations have beenlimping along, but bilateral trade has been racing ahead.Between January and November 2007, Sino-India tradesurged 53% over the same period a year earlier toUS$34.23 billion. Trade between the neighbors jumped33.8% from 2005, and 37% that year from 2004.

When the last Indian prime minister to travel to China, Atal

Bihari Vajpayee, made his visit to Beijing in June-2003,the total volume of bilateral trade was $5 billion.

At the time, other than minor trading activity, economiclinks across the border were negligible. In the five yearssince, some 100 Indian companies established a presencein China, and Indian banks, industry associations,consultancies and even a law firm have set up shop tofacilitate burgeoning business ties.

However, several question marks threaten to push throughthis rosy surface. Apart from India's long-term concernsover the composition of its exports to China, which primarily comprise low-value primary products, awidening trade deficit is causing furrowed brows in NewDelhi. While in 2004 the balance of trade was in India'sfavor to the tune of $1.7 billion, by 2006 this had turned toa deficit of $4.12 billion. By November of last year, thedeficit had further broadened to over $9 billion.

In an interview to The Hindu in mid-2007, India'sambassador to China, Nirupama Rao, stressed that a tradedeficit with China was "tolerable only for a finite period",

beyond which the risk of seeing a "positive of the[bilateral] relationship assuming negative tones" ran high.

Chinese trade officials say that an Indian trade deficit islikely to continue for the foreseeable future. "UnlessIndians make a much more concerted effort to sell in theChinese market, the Chinese surplus will continue," saysWang Jinzhen, secretary general of CCPIT.



One possible solution, according to Wang, is the earlynegotiation of a regional trade agreement (RTA) betweenthe two countries, something the Chinese haveaggressively been pushing for in recent years.

Wang points to the fact that China has already concludedor is in the process of finalizing about 15 free tradeagreements (FTAs) with 29 countries and regions. He givesthe example of the Sino-Chilean FTA as an illustration of the mutual economic benefits such agreements purportedly bring for bilateral trade. "Within a year of the FTA withChina, Chile increased its exports to China by 100 %," hesays.

A joint task force set up by India and China to study thefeasibility of an RTA will make public its

recommendations during Manmohan's visit to Beijing. It iswidely expected to suggest deferring implementation of any RTA while not ruling it out altogether.

The suggested go-slow on the RTA is primarily the resultof concerns among Indian business leaders. In India,lingering insecurities about Indian industry'scompetitiveness vis-a-vis the might of China'smanufacturing are coupled with suspicions of the lack of transparency in Chinese pricing and accounting systems.

India is thus reluctant to grant China market economystatus (MES), a first step towards the negotiation of anRTA. Currently, India is a leading initiator of anti-dumpingcases against China. Were New Delhi to grant MES toChina, it would mean that India would compulsorily haveto accept pricing figures supplied by Beijing, leading tofears of large-scale dumping of Chinese products.

Harpreet Puri, the founder and head of Business Links, aChina-based Indian consultancy, argues that the best wayahead is to stagger a potential RTA, restricting it to certaincommodities rather than implementing a full-blown

agreement all at once.

He is of the opinion, however, that the emphasis duringManmohan's visit should be on boosting cross-border investments, rather than on trade alone. "India's tradedeficit is likely to continue for some time and so it is reallyimportant to make investments rather than trade thefoundation of the relationship," he says.



Although a gradual beefing up of investments across theHimalayas has taken place, they remain meagre. For example, since 2006, Puri's consultancy alone has helped bring in a $60 million investment from wind energycompany Suzlon and an additional $50 million fromEverest Kanto Cylinders. However, actual Indianinvestment in China until March 2007 stood at a mere $178million (although contractual investment is valued higher,at $565 million).

Chinese investments in India are also less than weighty,with fewer than 50 Chinese companies known to have setup offices there. According to the Indian government,foreign direct investment inflows to India from China between August 1991 and December 2006 worked out to agrand total of $3.61 million. Even the higher Chinese

figure of about $17 million for actual investments isunimposing.

When Chinese President Hu Jintao visited New Delhi in November 2006, the two countries signed a bilateralinvestment protection and promotion pact. Since then,there has been an upswing in Chinese investments south of the border, particularly in the area of infrastructure andother project implementation.

However, CCPIT's Wang explains how lack of informationin China about investment and market conditions in India,coupled with India's stringent labor laws and poor infrastructure, don't yet make it an obvious choice for Chinese investors.

Moreover, although the upgrading of economic ties isexpected to take some of the heat off the simmering issuesof bilateral political contention, such as the disputed border, continuing political suspicions work againstunfettered economic engagement.

Thus, New Delhi has for long stymied Chinese investments

in certain sectors, such as telecommunications and portdevelopment, on the grounds that particular Chinesecompanies pose a security threat.

Aviation is the latest sector to be affected negatively by political concerns. The Indian government is blocking theentry of Chinese cargo carrier Great Wall Airlines toMumbai and Chennai, reportedly due to the fact that key



nuclear facilities are located near these two airports. NewDelhi's suspicions spring from the fact that one of theformer owners of the airline in question - China Great WallIndustry Corporation - was blacklisted by the US for alleged transfer of missile technology to Iran.

In a retaliatory measure, Beijing has blocked India's JetAirways' plans to fly to Chicago via Shanghai.

Sino-Indian economic ties are in fact still in a take-off phase. In January-November 2007 the share of Indianexports in overall Chinese imports was a mere 1.46 %. Inthe same time period India was only China's 10th-largestexport destination and the 15th-largest exporter to China.

This is thus crunch time for identifying and developingmechanisms to manage the bilateral economic relationship

in such a way as to minimize potential friction andmaximize mutual self interest.

Manmohan has the opportunity to use the business summitin Beijing to move beyond the now cliched niceties of touting hardware/software collaboration and insteadaddress head-on the challenges of promoting cross-border economic ties in all their thorny complexity.

Sino-India RTA analysed

N Chandra Mohan

Posted: 2008-01-16 21:38:29+05:30 ISTUpdated: Jan 15, 2008 at 2153 hrs IST

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: India's burgeoning trade deficit with China—that touched $10 billion in 2007—has causededginess in India Inc with regard to ongoing negotiations to ink a bilateral regional tradeagreement. In the ‘Shared Vision of the 21st Century’ that PM Manmohan Singh signed with hisChinese counterpart Wen Jiabao during his maiden visit to Beijing on January 14, both askedtheir respective commerce ministers to examine the benefits of an RTA. A joint feasibility studyindicates that it would be mutually advantageous.

Is it, in fact, so advantageous? Simply put, India Inc’s concerns are that the bilateral deficitreflects the dragon’s non-transparent pricing mechanism and massive hidden subsidies. TheChinese yuan is also undervalued. For such reasons, India has been reluctant to grant market

economy status so far to China, which is a necessary building block for an RTA. The fear is thatif it is granted, India will have to accept China’s pricing numbers that can result in further dumping of cheap Chinese goods into India that would hurt local businesses unfairly.

Research by Sandra Polaski of the US-based Carnegie Endowment along with A Ganesh Kumar,Scott McDonald, Manoj Panda and Sherman Robinson indicates, interestingly, that India would benefit more from a multilateral trade agreement at the WTO than from bilateral agreements withcountries like China, the US and EU. Although the gains of an accord at Doha are admittedlymodest—India’s real income would increase by only $1.2 billion—it is still six times more thanthe gain from the most beneficial bilateral agreement among these three nations. This is whyIndia has a big stake in Doha’s success.

According to this work, China gains more in real income from the free trade agreement than doesIndia: the former has a $940 million gain when compared with the latter’s gain of $110 million.This is driven almost entirely by India’s elimination of manufacturing tariffs. However, a silver lining is that India sees a greater increase in its exports ($710 million) than does China ($220million). Moreover, China’s imports increase by $770 million when compared with India’sincrease of $480 million. As such increases are less than under other bilaterals, the overall gainsfor the Indian economy are much less. Therefore, it would be in India’s interests to root for amultilateral deal.

DIFFERENT TRADE BLOCKSEUROPEAN UNIONAustria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,

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Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

OPEC MEMBER COUNTRIESAustria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand,

Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovak Republic, Sweden,Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America

COMMONWEALTH MEMBER COUNTRIESAntigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize,Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho,Malawi, Malaysia Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, NewZealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent andthe Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, SouthAfrica, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, UnitedKingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zambia

NATO MEMBER COUNTRIESBelgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, uxembourg, Netherlands, Poland,

Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom,United States of America

SAARC MEMBER COUNTRIESBhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

OPEC MEMBER COUNTRIESFounder Member: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and VenezuelaFull member: Qatar, Libya, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Algeria and NigeriaAssociate member: Gabon

EFTA MEMBER COUNTRIESAustria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, UnitedKingdom

APEC MEMBER COUNTRIESAustralia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong,China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,

Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese



Taipei, Thailand, United States of America, Vietnam

ASEAN MEMBER COUNTRIESBrunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines,

Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

NAFTA MEMBER COUNTRIES

Canada, Mexico, United States of America

ANDEAN COMMUNITYBolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, VenezuelaCARRIBEAN COMMUNITYAntigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana,

Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and theGrenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago

MERCOSUR / MERCOSUL COUNTRIESArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay

SADC MEMBER COUNTRIESAngola, Botswana, DR Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia,Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATESArmenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

BALTIC STATES, FORMERLY PART OF THE SOVIET UNION:Estonia, Latvia, LithuaniaPACIFIC COMMUNITY / COMMUNAUTÉ DU PACIFIQUEAmerican Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Guam,Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue,

Northern Mariana, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn islands Samoa,Solomon islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, UK, USA, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna

GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL MEMBER CONTRIES

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.



ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WESTERN AFRICAN STATES - ECOWASBenin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory

Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

ECOWAS HOME PAGE

COMESA MEMBER CONTRIESAngola, Burundi, Comoros, D.R.Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland,Uganda, Zambia, ZimbabweCOMESA - Welcome

THE ROLE AND FUNCTION OF REGIONAL TRADE BLOCSWhat are regional trading blocs?

Regional trade blocs are intergovernmental associations that manage and promotetrade activities for specific regions of the world. Trade bloc activities have political as well as economic implications. For example,the European Union, the world’s largest trading block, has “harbored political ambitionsextending far beyond the free trading arrangements sought by other multistageregional economic organizations“ (Gibb and Michalak 1994: 75). Indeed, theideological foundations that gave birth to the EU were based on ensuringdevelopment and maintaining international stability, i.e., the containment of communist expansion in post World War II Europe (Hunt 1989). The Maastricht Treaty which gave birth to the EU in 1992 included considerations for joint policiesin regard to military defense and citizenship. The decisions reached by developmentpolicy makers on whether regionalism or globalized trade should be pursued mayinfluence a country’s earnings from trade.Regionalism differs from globalization in the size and area of markets. From theperspective of developing countries skeptical of free trade, regional trade blocsoffer some form of protection against an aggressive global market.

The European Union (EU) is a family of democratic European countries,committed to working together for peace and prosperity. It is not a State intendedto replace existing States, nor is it just an organisation for international cooperation. The EU is, in fact, unique. Its member states have set up common institutions towhich they delegate some of their sovereignty so that decisions on specific mattersof joint interest can be made democratically at European level.

The historical roots of the European Union lie in the Second World War. The idea was born because Europeans were determined to prevent such killing and

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destruction ever happening again. In the early years, the cooperation was betweensix countries and mainly about trade and the economy. Now the EU embraces 27countries and 490 million people, and it deals with a wide range of issues of directimportance for our everyday life.Europe is a continent with many different traditions and languages, but also with

shared values such as democracy, freedom and social justice. The EU defends thesevalues. It fosters cooperation among the peoples of Europe, promoting unity whilepreserving diversity and ensuring that decisions are taken as close as possible tothe citizens.In the increasingly interdependent world of the 21st century, it is more necessarythan ever for every European citizen to work together with people from othercountries in a spirit of curiosity, openness and solidarity.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) eliminated the majority of tariffs on products traded among the United States, Canada and Mexico, andgradually phases out other tariffs over a 10-year period. Restrictions were to beremoved from many categories, including motor vehicles, computers, textiles, andagriculture. The treaty also protects intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights,and trademarks), and outlines the removal of investment restrictions among thethree countries. The agreement is trilateral in nature (that is, the terms applyequally to all countries) in all areas except agriculture, in which stipulations, tariff reduction phase-out periods and protection of selected industries, were negotiatedon a bilateral basis. Provisions regarding worker and environmental protection wereadded later as a result of supplemental agreements signed in 1992. NAFTA was an

expansion of the earlier Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1988. NAFTA is atreaty under international law, though under United States law it is classed as acongressional-executive agreement rather than a treaty.What is the North American Free Trade Agreement?In January 1994, the United States, Mexico and Canada entered into the NorthAmerican Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), creating the largest free trade area andrichest market in the world. The NAFTA is the most comprehensive regional tradeagreement ever negotiated by the United States and is scheduled to be fullyimplemented by the year 2008. In 1996, U.S. two-way trade in goods under theNAFTA with Canada and Mexico stood at $420 billion--a 44 % increase since the

NAFTA was signed.

What are some of the key goals of the NAFTA?• to reduce barriers to trade• to increase cooperation for improving working conditions in North America• to create an expanded and safe market for goods and services produced in NorthAmerica



• to establish clear and mutually advantageous trade rules• to help develop and expand world trade and provide a catalyst to broaderinternational cooperation

Why should consumers care about the NAFTA?

U.S. consumers participate in international trade each day as they purchase goodsand services that cross international borders. Therefore, they are affected daily bywhat they pay for the products and how safe they are. Trade is considered "free" or "open" when goods and services can move intomarkets without restrictions, and prices are determined by supply and demand.Nations sometimes erect barriers to this free movement of goods and services, suchas quotas limiting the quantity of products imported, or non-tariff barriers, such asregistration or labeling requirements, that create obstacles to selling foreign goods. These barriers can significantly increase the cost of the product.

Mercosur or is a Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) among Brazil, Argentina, Uruguayand Paraguay, founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amendedand updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free tradeand the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency.Mercosur/Mercosul origins trace back to 1985 when Presidents Raúl Alfonsín of Argentina and José Sarney of Brazil signed the Argentina-Brazil Integration andEconomics Cooperation Program or PICEBolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru currently have associate member status.Venezuela signed a membership agreement on 17 June 2006, but before becoming

a full member, its entry has to be ratified by the Paraguayan and the Brazilianparliaments. The organization has a South and Central American integrationvocation. The founding of the Mercosur Parliament was agreed at the December 2004presidential summit. It should have 18 representatives from each country by 2010Some South Americans see Mercosur as giving the capability to combine resourcesto balance the activities of other global economic powers, especially the NAFTA andthe European Union. The organization could also potentially pre-empt the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA); however, over half of the current Mercosurmember countries rejected the FTAA proposal at the IV Cumbre de las Américas (IV

Summit of the Americas) in Argentina in 2005. However, development of the Unionof South American Nations seems to suggest that the countries of South Americaare not opposed to regional integration but merely wary of the United States-backed FTAA. The development of Mercosur was arguably weakened by the collapse of theArgentine economy in 2001 and it has still seen internal conflicts over trade policy,between Brazil and Argentina, Argentina and Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil, etc. Thefree movement of individuals has been a matter of practical controversy,as



Argentina unilaterally charges a 5 Pesos fee from Mercosur citizens going throughthe countryIn addition, many obstacles are to be addressed before the developmentof a common currency in MercosurIn December 2004 it signed a cooperation agreement with the Andean Communitytrade bloc (CAN) and they published a joint letter of intention for a future

negotiations towards integrating all of South America. The prospect of increasedpolitical integration within the organization, as per the European Union andadvocated by some, is still uncertain. The bloc comprises a population of more than 263 million people, and the combinedGross Domestic Product of the member nations is in excess of 2.42 trillion dollars ayear (PPP) according to World Bank numbers, making Mercosur the fifth largesteconomy in the World.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established on 8 August1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia,Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, andCambodia on 30 April 1999. The ASEAN region has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 millionsquare kilometers, a combined gross domestic product of almost US$ 700 billion,and a total trade of about US$ 850 billion.

OBJECTIVES The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association are: (1)to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the

region and (2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region andadherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. The ASEAN Vision 2020, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations,outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together inpartnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies.In 2003, the ASEAN Leaders resolved that an ASEAN Community shall beestablished comprising three pillars, namely, ASEAN Security Community, ASEANEconomic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS The highest decision-making organ of ASEAN is the Meeting of the ASEAN Heads of State and Government. The ASEAN Summit is convened every year. The ASEANMinisterial Meeting (Foreign Ministers) is held annually.Ministerial meetings on the following sectors are also held regularly: agriculture andforestry, economics (trade), energy, environment, finance, health, information,investment, labour, law, regional haze, rural development and poverty alleviation,science and technology, social welfare, telecommunications, transnational crime,



transportation, tourism, youth. Supporting these ministerial bodies are committeesof senior officials, technical working groups and task forces. To support the conduct of ASEAN’s external relations, ASEAN has establishedcommittees composed of heads of diplomatic missions in the following capitals:Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Canberra, Geneva, Islamabad, London, Moscow, New Delhi,

New York, Ottawa, Paris, Riyadh, Seoul, Tokyo, Washington D.C. and Wellington.

The Secretary-General of ASEAN is appointed on merit and accorded ministerialstatus. The Secretary-General of ASEAN, who has a five-year term, is mandated toinitiate, advise, coordinate, and implement ASEAN activities. The members of theprofessional staff of the ASEAN Secretariat are appointed on the principle of openrecruitment and region-wide competition.ASEAN has several specialized bodies and arrangements promoting inter-governmental cooperation in various fields including the following: ASEANAgricultural Development Planning Centre, ASEAN-EC Management Centre, ASEANCentre for Energy, ASEAN Earthquake Information Centre, ASEAN Foundation,ASEAN Poultry Research and Training Centre, ASEAN Regional Centre forBiodiversity Conservation, ASEAN Rural Youth Development Centre, ASEANSpecialized Meteorological Centre, ASEAN Timber Technology Centre, ASEAN Tourism Information Centre, and the ASEAN University Network.In addition, ASEAN promotes dialogue and consultations with professional andbusiness organisations with related aims and purposes, such as the ASEAN-Chambers of Commerce and Industry, ASEAN Business Forum, ASEAN TourismAssociation, ASEAN Council on Petroleum, ASEAN Ports Association, Federation of ASEAN Shipowners, ASEAN Confederation of Employers, ASEAN FisheriesFederation, ASEAN Vegetable Oils Club, ASEAN Intellectual Property Association,

and the ASEAN-Institutes for Strategic and International Studies. Furthermore, thereare 58 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), which have formal affiliations withASEAN.

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DIFFERENT TRADE BLOCKS