APEC ministers in Vietnam to push for global free trade
HO CHI MINH CITY - Asia-Pacific trade ministers have pledged to help unlock stalled global talks on freeing up the flow of goods and services as they started a two-day meeting in Vietnam.
"APEC trade ministers will deliver a strong and credible message to advance WTO negotiations that goes beyond a political statement and offers specific proposals," said the host country's Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (
APEC) ministers and World Trade Organisation (WTO) head Pascal Lamy were meeting a day after Vietnam signed a trade deal with the United States, paving the way for it to join the WTO.
The WTO itself is in the spotlight as its 149 members have failed to reach a deal in the Doha round of talks launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 with the aim of removing trade barriers.
The Doha round aims to slash subsidies, tariffs and other trade barriers and use commerce to boost the economies of developing countries.
The talks have made little progress, with Washington and Brussels accusing each other of making too few concessions, especially in the contentious farm sector, while developing nations led by Brazil and India want both to make greater concessions.
Tuyen said "APEC has a crucial role to play in salvaging WTO negotiations.
"APEC's membership represents a wide spectrum of WTO members from developing and developed areas and from a range of different cultures. Our economies also account for about half of global trade volume."
US Deputy Trade Representative Karan Bhatia said on Wednesday that trade had already brought great prosperity to the Pacific Rim.
"If there is any region in the world that has truly benefited from free and liberalised trade, it must be the APEC region," he said.
APEC ministers agreed in 2001 to cut business transaction costs by five percent, hoping to stimulate 280 billion dollars in additional trade. They were due to consider another five percent cut at the Vietnam meeting.
Delegates were also reviewing APEC initiatives against counterfeiting and piracy, plans to fight corruption and promote transparency, and efforts to secure regional trade in the event of a bird flu epidemic.
The APEC forum operates by consensus, meaning each member's approval is needed to reach a decision, and it only makes non-binding agreements.
In 1994, APEC leaders at Bogor, Indonesia, pledged to reach a free trade and investment agreement by 2020 for all members, a goal they reaffirmed at their summit in
South Korea last year.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.
Agence France Presse - June 1st, 2006.
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