Aspac biz council seeks meeting with Congress

Representatives from the Asia Pacific Council of American Chamber of Commerce will meet with representatives of the U.S. Congress to discuss trade issues affecting the region, including the CNMI.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Charles Cepeda said the council—an association of business groups in Guam, the CNMI and Asian countries such as Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines—will meet with Congress to discuss matters affecting trade relations with the United States.

Cepeda disclosed this after attending the council’s annual conference that was held last week in Makati City, the Philippines’ premier commercial district.

Cepeda said representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the federal government attended the three-day conference, which was held at the Shangri-la Hotel from March 15 to 17. Ambassador Karan K. Bhatia, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, spoke about trade issues during the conference.

Around 220 delegates attended the conference. Cepeda, along with Chamber director David Sablan and member Jerry Tan, attended the conference. Guam Gov. Felix Camacho also attended.

Saipan’s Chamber of Commerce has yet to confirm actual representation to the council delegates who will meet with U.S. lawmakers by mid-year.

International trade relations have had significant impact in the CNMI’s economy, whose garment and tourism industries have been negatively impacted by global trade and economic factors.

As early as 2004, Saipan’s garment factories raised an alarm over the debilitating effect of the World Trade Organization’s lifting of quota restrictions on apparel after January 2005. At least six garment factories on Saipan closed down in 2005, while many other factories downsized their operations, resulting in massive displacement of workers.

The CNMI government has been pressing for the amendment of federal tariff rules that would reduce value-added requirement on garment imports from 50 percent to 30 percent for local manufacturers to avail of duty-free treatment amid the continuing downsizing of the CNMI’s apparel industry.

Currently, the U.S. Tariff Code requires that 50 percent of the value of the garment has to be added locally by transformation, in terms of additional labor, packaging or other overhead costs, so that garment products coming from the Commonwealth could enter the United States duty-free.

In the tourism sector, the pullout of Japan Airlines’ direct flights to Saipan drastically reduced the CNMI’s Japanese visitors, the destination’s premier tourist market.