APEC urges resumption of WTO talks

HANOI – Pacific Rim leaders declared they would do their utmost to break the deadlock in global trade talks in a final statement at the end of their weekend summit Sunday, but made no reference to North Korea’s nuclear program.

Warning that failure to forge a World Trade Organisation agreement would bring “grave” economic consequences, the leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum said they would “spare no efforts to break the current deadlocks” in the talks that collapsed in July amid disputes over farm trade. They made no public statement on North Korea, but forged a joint statement that was read orally in closed-door meetings that urged the communist nation to take concrete steps to live up to its commitments to stop developing atomic bombs.The leaders also instructed their officials to further study the creation of a sprawling APEC-wide free trade zone as a long-term goal and report back to them at next year’s gathering in Sydney, Australia.The US-backed idea is viewed as a backup plan in case the WTO’s Doha round fail.But leaders acknowledged there were “practical difficulties” in negotiating such an agreement, which would radically alter APEC’s nonbinding nature.The communique also reaffirmed leaders’ efforts to combat terrorism, commending progress made in dismantling cross-border terrorist groups and eliminating the danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.The final revision of the statement inserted a line about the need to “take appropriate and joint actions” to protect “legitimate financial and commercial systems from abuse,” an apparent reference to actions such as the US sanctions imposed on some North Korean overseas bank accounts.Security matters have become a dominant theme at APEC summits since the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with some members complaining that security concerns now overshadow the group’s founding goals of promoting free trade and investment.In an apparent reflection of US influence, the final statement deleted references in earlier drafts to the threat of climate change and the need to address air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.Instead, it said the leaders spoke of “minimising environmental effects,” and urged members to develop new and renewable energy sources and technologies.Nampa-APThey made no public statement on North Korea, but forged a joint statement that was read orally in closed-door meetings that urged the communist nation to take concrete steps to live up to its commitments to stop developing atomic bombs.The leaders also instructed their officials to further study the creation of a sprawling APEC-wide free trade zone as a long-term goal and report back to them at next year’s gathering in Sydney, Australia.The US-backed idea is viewed as a backup plan in case the WTO’s Doha round fail.But leaders acknowledged there were “practical difficulties” in negotiating such an agreement, which would radically alter APEC’s nonbinding nature.The communique also reaffirmed leaders’ efforts to combat terrorism, commending progress made in dismantling cross-border terrorist groups and eliminating the danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.The final revision of the statement inserted a line about the need to “take appropriate and joint actions” to protect “legitimate financial and commercial systems from abuse,” an apparent reference to actions such as the US sanctions imposed on some North Korean overseas bank accounts.Security matters have become a dominant theme at APEC summits since the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with some members complaining that security concerns now overshadow the group’s founding goals of promoting free trade and investment.In an apparent reflection of US influence, the final statement deleted references in earlier drafts to the threat of climate change and the need to address air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.Instead, it said the leaders spoke of “minimising environmental effects,” and urged members to develop new and renewable energy sources and technologies.Nampa-AP