APEC vows united front to battle global slowdown<\/p>\n
SUZHOU, China (Reuters): Asia-Pacific finance ministers
\npledged on Sunday to press on with trade liberalization and
\nfinancial reforms to combat a global economic slowdown that has
\nsent markets reeling, but came up with no concrete measures.<\/p>\n
A two-day meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation finance
\nministers in China -- one of the few nations that has managed to
\ninsulate itself from the economic chill -- ended with expressions
\nof optimism despite the gloom.<\/p>\n
\"We're confident that the leaders of APEC member economies can
\nlink hands and mutually face the current economic slowdown,\"
\nChinese Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"We can already roughly estimate when the slowdown will reach
\na bottom and then recover, so our confidence is strengthening. I
\nfeel that this APEC meeting was very helpful in allowing us to
\nexchange viewpoints and in strengthening confidence.\"<\/p>\n
In a joint declaration at the end of the meeting, ministers
\nstressed the importance of timely action to deal with the
\ndeteriorating world economy.<\/p>\n
\"We reaffirm our commitment to enhanced macroeconomic policy
\ndialogue and cooperation to tackle the current economic
\ndifficulties, and to build a strong foundation for sustained and
\nbroad-based growth in the APEC region and the rest of the world,\"
\nit said.<\/p>\n
\"Trade and investment liberalization and facilitation will
\nincrease investor confidence, attract capital to the region,
\nstimulate growth and reduce poverty,\" it said.<\/p>\n
But the five-page declaration contained no concrete measures
\nto tackle the crisis and was void of details of how APEC
\ncountries would work together to turn their economies around.<\/p>\n
New Zealand Finance Minister Michael Cullen said there were
\nhopes of an upturn by the end of the year and that the current
\ngloom was a temporary slowdown rather than a crisis like the
\neconomic collapse that hit Southeast Asia in 1997.<\/p>\n
\"I think there's a general feeling around the table that while
\nthere are still significant risks, it was important to send the
\nmessage that we are not looking at any kind of systemic failure
\nlike the Asian financial crisis,\" Cullen said.<\/p>\n
Critics of APEC -- whose members span the economic and
\nideological spectrum from industrial giants like the United
\nStates and Japan to impoverished Papua New Guinea and Communist
\nVietnam -- say the body is all talk and no action.<\/p>\n
But Cullen said APEC's diversity was one of its strengths.<\/p>\n
\"I think it does have value, in part because it is varied,\" he
\nsaid. \"It covers a significant cross-section of the world.\"<\/p>\n
Cullen said one of the main benefits of APEC was that it gave
\nthe opportunity for ministers to talk informally.<\/p>\n
\"There is the capacity for ministers to meet informally and to
\ngain confidence in each other, to understand each other's
\nposition,\" he said.<\/p>\n
APEC's relevance has declined since its early days a decade
\nago, when member countries thought they were witnessing the dawn
\nof a \"Pacific century\" of economic success.<\/p>\n
That dream is over, crushed by the 1997 Asian crisis, debt
\nproblems in South America and the latest world slump.<\/p>\n
But APEC retains significant economic clout -- its members
\nhave a combined GDP of $18 trillion and account for 44 percent of
\nglobal trade.<\/p>\n
China said the meeting agreed on the need for \"equitable and
\nbroad-based\" growth -- a coded message to richer nations to
\nprovide support to developing countries and do more to drag the
\nglobal economy out of the doldrums.<\/p>\n
But Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said the U.S. could not be
\nthe sole engine of world growth and called on Japan to implement
\nthe economic reforms needed to cure its economy.<\/p>\n
\"Let's get on with it\" was O'Neill's blunt advice for the
\nJapanese. He is due to visit Tokyo this week.<\/p>\n
The finance ministers will forward their declaration to APEC
\nheads of government, due to meet next month in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
Trade ministers met in June and urged that APEC kick-start its
\nstalled trade liberalization agenda. The grouping upset business
\nleaders in 1999 when it abandoned efforts to fast-track tariff
\ncuts in a range of sectors.<\/p>\n
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Chile, Hong
\nKong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
\nZealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia,
\nSingapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.<\/p>",
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