APEC officials leave key issues for Manila summit<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuter); APEC officials due to begin this week their
\nlast meeting before a summit in November will leave several
\ncontentious topics for their leaders to resolve, such as
\nexpanding the group's membership, officials said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Federico Macaranas, who will chair the officials' meeting
\nstarting on Friday, voiced confidence at a news conference that
\nmost preparatory work would be completed ahead of the summit
\nstarting in the town of Subic north of Manila on Nov. 25.<\/p>\n
This week's meeting will fine tune the individual members'
\naction plans to be submitted by the 18 member economies.<\/p>\n
These plans are commitments by members to change their trade
\nand investment rules so that the Asia Pacific Economic
\nCooperation (APEC) forum's goal of free trade is met.<\/p>\n
Macaranas, who is Philippine undersecretary for foreign
\naffairs, said among issues that would be left to the leaders was
\nthe admission of new members to the group.<\/p>\n
Countries or territories that have applied for membership are
\nIndia, Macau, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Colombia, Sri
\nLanka, Vietnam, and Panama.<\/p>\n
Macaranas said another issue on which senior officials might
\nnot be able to agree was on the United States demand that APEC
\nshould make a common stand before the World Trade Organization
\n(WTO) on trading rules for information technology products.<\/p>\n
The United States wants APEC countries to adopt zero tariffs
\non information technology products but APEC officials say the
\nU.S. proposal is vague and does not specify the products.<\/p>\n
This senior officials' meeting will be the fourth and last
\nthis year before APEC leaders meet in Subic.<\/p>\n
APEC ministers are due to meet for two days beginning November
\n22 when a draft Manila Action Plan for 1996 will be finalized,
\nbefore it is presented for approval to the leaders.<\/p>\n
APEC's goal is to free trade and investments completely in the
\nregion by year 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for
\ndeveloping economies.<\/p>\n
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Chile, Hong
\nKong, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
\nGuinea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore
\nand the United States.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/apec-officials-leave-key-issues-for-manila-summit-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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