Two Koreas to restart regular rail service after half-century --AFP

North Korean Premier Kim Yong Il, left, shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Han Duck-soo, right, during their meeting at a hotel in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 16, 2007. North and South Korea agreed Friday to launch cross-border rail service next month for the first time in more than half a century, with cargo trains running along a short railway just across the heavily armed frontier.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool)


photo courtesy of Yahoo News Photo(Associated Press)



Two Koreas to restart regular rail service after half-century

AFP

by Lim Chang-Won Fri Nov 16, 12:59 AM ET

SEOUL (AFP) - North and South Korea have agreed to start regular rail freight services across their heavily fortified border next month for the first time in more than half a century, it was announced Friday.

The services will begin on December 11, a joint statement said on the final day of a rare meeting of prime ministers from the two sides.

In other reconciliation moves, the two nations agreed to start creating a joint fishing zone in the Yellow Sea in the first half of next year. The aim is to prevent further clashes around the disputed sea border, the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002.

Cross-border trains made test runs in May in what was hailed as a milestone for unification between two countries still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended only in an armistice.

But the North's military had been reluctant to give security guarantees for a regular operation on the 20-kilometre (12 mile) section of track, which would service the Seoul-funded industrial estate at Kaesong just north of the border.

President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il agreed at their historic summit in Pyongyang early last month to resume regular rail services.

This week's prime ministerial meeting, the first for 15 years, was tasked with implementing the sweeping summit declaration on promoting peace and co-prosperity.

"This accord will provide a major opportunity for South and North Korea to speed up exchanges and cooperation, and to advance peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula," an upbeat Lee Jae-Joung, Seoul's unification minister, told reporters.

The issue of military security guarantees would be handled when defence ministers from the two sides meet late this month, he said.

Regular cross-border freight services would signal a marked opening-up by the hardline communist North, which is eager for help to revive its crumbling economy.

The border remains one of the most heavily mined areas on earth, and extensive demining had to be undertaken before the railway test runs.

In another sign of opening up, the North has agreed to let South Korean businessmen use the Internet and cellphones when visiting Kaesong, Lee said.

Prime ministerial meetings will be held every six month in future.

Last month's summit agreed on a variety of joint reconciliation projects costing billions of dollars, including the establishment of the joint fishing area as part of a "peace zone" in the Yellow Sea.

A special economic zone around the North's southwestern port and naval base of Haeju would be part of the peace zone. The two leaders also agreed to expand Kaesong, jointly develop shipyards in the North, upgrade the North's decrepit roads and railways and expand tourist and cultural exchanges.

On the joint fishing area, a committee grouping both sides will meet this year to discuss the project, said Friday's joint statement. The two sides will conduct a joint feasibility study on developing Haeju by year-end.

North and South agreed to begin repairing the highway between Pyongyang and Kaesong next year, along with work on a railway connecting Kaesong to Sinuiju on the Chinese border.

South Korea's government sees joint developments such as Kaesong as a way to narrow the huge wealth gap in preparation for possible eventual reunification.

Some 20,000 North Koreans earning about 60 dollars a month produce clothes, utensils, watches and other goods for South Korean firms.

A Hyundai Research Institute study has estimated the cost to South Korea of all the summit projects at 11 billion dollars. The Seoul government, which has less than four months still in office, says private businesses will pick up cost of the investment tab.


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Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

ASEAN single market faces obstacles:analysts --AFP

ASEAN single market faces obstacles: analysts

Agence France Presse

SINGAPORE - Southeast Asia's plans for a unified market by 2015 hinge on painful reforms that could be derailed by red tape, vested interests and foot-dragging, observers say.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders holding their annual summit in Singapore from Sunday are expected to approve a blueprint for an ASEAN economic community embracing more than half a billion people.

"Political will is the key. If countries don't have the political will to push through with these reforms, this will remain just a dream," said a Southeast Asian trade official, talking on condition of anonymity.

"Can governments, for example, resist pressure from domestic interests against allowing foreign airlines to fly domestic routes?"

Analysts have lauded ASEAN for moving forward by five years its timetable for economic integration, from 2020 to 2015.

But they said the 40-year-old organization faces a formidable task in establishing a unified market and production base that would help it compete against Asian giants China and India.

Some of the reforms could come up against entrenched domestic business interests and face resistance from officials in departments such as customs, a major source of corruption in some countries, they said.

Complicating the situation are disparities between the group's more developed members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, and lower-income states Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

As a first step to integration, ASEAN has marked 12 priority sectors for the elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers by 2010.

These are agricultural, rubber and wood-based products along with air travel, Internet linkages, automotives, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, logistics, textiles and apparel, and tourism.

ASEAN also plans to liberalize the services sector, open formerly-closed sectors to foreign investors, harmonize and streamline customs procedures, and ease the movement of professionals.

ASEAN transport ministers agreed in November that national airlines can fly between capital cities by the end of 2008 under an open-skies pact that could be expanded later to include secondary cities.

Mike Barclay, regional vice president of the industry trade body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said however that ASEAN still had a "long way to go" in freeing up aviation.

"We don't see any relaxation of foreign ownership controls... we don't see the opportunity for airlines to operate domestic sectors in another ASEAN country," Barclay told an aviation conference in Singapore last month.

Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila said in August there could be "unintended pockets of bureaucratic red tape" that could slow the blueprint's implementation, but voiced confidence this could be overcome.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Institute identified in a recent report the huge scale of some of the reforms ASEAN states must undertake.

"A shift to knowledge-based economy is crucial for Malaysia and Thailand and institutional and governance reforms and restoration of good investment climate should be priorities for Indonesia and the Philippines," it said.

Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam need to build infrastructure like transportation and telecommunication facilities. They also need legal, judicial and governance systems and a skilled work force, the ADB's research arm said.

"These countries are still not ready for the ASEAN economic community," said analyst Hiro Katsumata of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

ASEAN's six wealthier states could form the core of an economic community by 2015, with the poorer members joining later, Katsumata suggested.

The ADB Institute paper highlighted the wide disparity within ASEAN in terms of market openness and urged financial and technical help for ASEAN's poorer members.

For example, ASEAN's average tariff import rate is 9.53 percent, ranging from zero tariffs in Singapore to 17.92 percent in Vietnam.

It takes an average 32 days to import an item in ASEAN, varying from three days in Singapore to 45 days in Cambodia and 78 days in Laos.

An average 64 days are required to start a business in ASEAN, ranging from six days in Singapore to 163 days in Laos and 97 days in Indonesia.

"The greatest challenge is to narrow the development gaps within ASEAN," the paper said.



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ASEAN single market faces obstacles: analysts
AFP

by Martin Abbugao Fri Nov 16, 1:33 AM ET


SINGAPORE (AFP) - Southeast Asia's plans for a unified market by 2015 hinge on painful reforms that could be derailed by red tape, vested interests and foot-dragging, observers say.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders holding their annual summit in Singapore from Sunday are expected to approve a blueprint for an ASEAN economic community embracing more than half a billion people.

"Political will is the key. If countries don't have the political will to push through with these reforms, this will remain just a dream," said a Southeast Asian trade official, talking on condition of anonymity.

"Can governments, for example, resist pressure from domestic interests against allowing foreign airlines to fly domestic routes?"

Analysts have lauded ASEAN for moving forward by five years its timetable for economic integration, from 2020 to 2015.

But they said the 40-year-old organisation faces a formidable task in establishing a unified market and production base that would help it compete against Asian giants China and India.

Some of the reforms could come up against entrenched domestic business interests and face resistance from officials in departments such as customs, a major source of corruption in some countries, they said.

Complicating the situation are disparities between the group's more developed members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, and lower-income states Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

As a first step to integration, ASEAN has marked 12 priority sectors for the elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers by 2010.

These are agricultural, rubber and wood-based products along with air travel, Internet linkages, automotives, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, logistics, textiles and apparel, and tourism.

ASEAN also plans to liberalise the services sector, open formerly-closed sectors to foreign investors, harmonise and streamline customs procedures, and ease the movement of professionals.

ASEAN transport ministers agreed in November that national airlines can fly between capital cities by the end of 2008 under an open-skies pact that could be expanded later to include secondary cities.

Mike Barclay, regional vice president of the industry trade body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said however that ASEAN still had a "long way to go" in freeing up aviation.

"We don't see any relaxation of foreign ownership controls... we don't see the opportunity for airlines to operate domestic sectors in another ASEAN country," Barclay told an aviation conference in Singapore last month.

Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila said in August there could be "unintended pockets of bureaucratic red tape" that could slow the blueprint's implementation, but voiced confidence this could be overcome.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Institute identified in a recent report the huge scale of some of the reforms ASEAN states must undertake.

"A shift to knowledge-based economy is crucial for Malaysia and Thailand and institutional and governance reforms and restoration of good investment climate should be priorities for Indonesia and the Philippines," it said.

Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam need to build infrastructure like transportation and telecommunication facilities. They also need legal, judicial and governance systems and a skilled work force, the ADB's research arm said.

"These countries are still not ready for the ASEAN economic community," said analyst Hiro Katsumata of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

ASEAN's six wealthier states could form the core of an economic community by 2015, with the poorer members joining later, Katsumata suggested.

The ADB Institute paper highlighted the wide disparity within ASEAN in terms of market openness and urged financial and technical help for ASEAN's poorer members.

For example, ASEAN's average tariff import rate is 9.53 percent, ranging from zero tariffs in Singapore to 17.92 percent in Vietnam.

It takes an average 32 days to import an item in ASEAN, varying from three days in Singapore to 45 days in Cambodia and 78 days in Laos.

An average 64 days are required to start a business in ASEAN, ranging from six days in Singapore to 163 days in Laos and 97 days in Indonesia.

"The greatest challenge is to narrow the development gaps within ASEAN," the paper said.


Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.


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