KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10: Negotiations over a raft of free-trade deals between Southeast Asia and its neighbours have run into problems, but the region remains committed to striking deals, a top official said Saturday.

Not all of them are moving along satisfactorily as we would like to see, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) chief Ong Keng Yong said at a business forum on the sidelines of the bloc’s annual summit.

Ong said that deals with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand had hit difficulties over reaching common standards, as well as balancing the interests of different business lobbies.

“We are carrying on our negotiations with China on trade and services and investment groups,” he said of the Asean-China free trade agreement, which is targeted to be struck by 2010.

“For Korea, we have moved forward, although there are still some difficulties,” he said.

“For Australia and New Zealand, we have intensified our negotiations and there are various activities ongoing which will be facilitating” discussion.

With the economies of regional heavyweights Japan and India, Ong indicated discussions were tough.

“We are undergoing very hard negotiations but we believe we should be able to come up with something satisfactory that is good,” he said, without elaborating.

The Asean chief said that despite the hurdles, it was vital that the free-trade agreements (FTAs) were reached.

We are committed to concluding all these FTA negotiations because we dont just believe in the economic value of these FTAs, we believe that the FTAs will help Asean to secure our future and compete well with the rest of the competitors in the globalized economies, he said.

Underlining the difficulties, Thailand on Friday refused to sign a trade agreement between South Korea and Asean, baulking at Seouls insistence that rice be protected from tariff cuts.

Ong said that Asean was still optimistic that the two sides will come to an agreement on the trade accord, which is a precursor to a full FTA.

There will be problems but at the end of the day, it will happen in a slow way, he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi deflected criticisms that the array of free-trade agreements being thrashed out in the region could undermine global talks under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

It has no intention to replace the WTO but it will be like building blocks towards a global kind of FTA, he said at the business forum.

Abdullah said the Asean agreements were not aimed at shutting out other countries, but at staying competitive in the face of the economic powerhouses of China and India.

It should be welcome news to all international traders that regional integration within Asia will not create barriers to trade with the rest of the world, Abdullah said.

Asia cannot afford to adopt such a policy, as it will then limit the flow of much-needed goods, service and capital.

While many of these Asian countries are involved in one or more bilateral or regional trading arrangements, these countries remain open to goods, services and capital from countries which are not members of such arrangements.

Abdullah said that a study investigating the potential for a giant East Asian free-trade area embracing the 10-member Asean and its “plus three” partners, China, Japan and South Korea, was making good progress.

I believe it should become a reality, he said. —AFP