KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia government officials told Bikyamasr.com on Sunday that their delegation to the APEC meeting with push for consensus on a green goods list for the region. While they admitted that the idea is not a top priority for the 21 members, the Malaysia delegation is hopeful that they can help push a list of some 100 environmental products that could received preferential tax treatment. APEC members are currently meeting in Vladivostok for the summit. “Reaching a consensus on the list, the first such list for green goods among trading nations, will be a major breakthrough as it will not only benefit the APEC economies but open the trade doors to other countries as well via multilateral ties,” said Senior Director of APEC Division, Ministry of International Trade and Industry N. Vasudevan in a statement published by Bernama news agency. “It was not easy to get the list up to begin with, as more than 300 products were first drawn up with the input of member nations, and this was further reduced in the subsequent APEC meetings before it was brought down to less than 100,” he told Bernama on the sidelines of the APEC summit. According to the report, the green products list will then be capped at five percent taxation by 2015, said Senior Principal Assistant Director of APEC Division, Aida Safinaz Alias. Challenges, however, remain to get the other APEC nations to agree to the list, which government officials said would be non-binding. Vasudevan said that although members would not be required to abide by the terms of the green list, it would be a boost for environmentalism in the region. “A lot of resources have gone into the process of listing of these goods, and discussions will continue on the technical details and the justification for the goods for listing, and generally everybody has to be convinced that they are of benefit to the environment,” he added.
