APEC vows to salvage trade talks
By Tay Jia Hao,WNS Southeast Asia Bureau Chief
HANOI - Leaders of some of the world's fastest-growing economies were expected to wrap up a Pacific Rim summit Sunday with a formal pledge to kick-start stalled global trade talks and a call for North Korea to take concrete steps to give up its nuclear weapons program.The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's 21 members, who represent more than half the world's economy, on Saturday demanded quick action to salvage the so-called Doha round of World Trade Organization talks. The negotiations, aimed at slashing trade barriers in order to boost global growth and alleviate poverty, fell apart in July in a dispute over agricultural subsidies between the United States and Europe.
"We are ready to break the current deadlock: each of us is committed to moving beyond our current positions in key areas," said the leaders, whose nations account for nearly half of all world trade. They promised to make deeper reductions in farm subsidies, widen market access for agricultural goods and cut tariffs. Despite APEC's predominantly economic focus, this year's conference has been dominated by concerns over a nuclear North Korea. The United States and its partners in dealing with North Korea have been jockeying in recent days to coordinate their stances ahead of the expected resumption of six-nation talks with the North next month. The talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
APEC, formed in 1989 as an economic forum, has seen its agenda rapidly expand to all regional concerns -- with North Korea the dominant theme this year. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Saturday with Chinese President Hu Jintao and discussed how to keep pressure on the North. That was followed by an Abe-Bush summit, a three-way Japan-U.S.-South Korea meeting, and talks between Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bush is to meet with Hu and Putin on Sunday. The increasing emphasis on security at APEC irked some leaders."APEC should return to its original purpose as an instrument for promoting economic growth through fostering freer and fairer flow of trade," said Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
posted by wnsworld @ 4:16 AM
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