Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ( apec ) forum have agreed to liberalise global trade in information technology. The apec nations will chalk out a common position on bringing down tariffs on computers, telecommunications equipment and other 'info-tech' products. This was agreed upon at an apec senior officials' meeting held recently in Manila. The common stance would be presented at the World Trade Organization's ministerial meeting in Singapore in December.
apec has yet to work out the timetable for tariff reduction and the details about the range of products to be covered. The proposal to make available low-cost access to information technology products was put forward by the us . Many information technology products such as personal computers, telephones and fax machines are produced by Asian nations. Eighty per cent of us imports come from Asian countries. But they also import other products such as software, microprocessors and advanced telecommunications equipment heavily.
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