Asia-Pacific leaders talk trade, while eying Timor<\/p>\n
AUCKLAND (Reuters): Asia-Pacific leaders began the world's
\nbiggest annual summit on Sunday, briefly setting aside worries
\nover East Timor and regional conflict to discuss trade.<\/p>\n
Heads of state and prime ministers from 21 economies
\naccounting for nearly half the world's trade and US$16 trillion
\nin output were welcomed by a New Zealand \"powhiri\", a traditional
\nchallenge by a group of indigenous warriors and chiefs.<\/p>\n
The leaders were serenaded towards their conference room by a
\nlone Maori woman singer and presented with a series of spoken and
\nmusical greetings culminating in a \"hongi\", in which they each
\npressed noses or kissed the welcoming party line.<\/p>\n
Chief of the Ngai Tahu tribe of New Zealand's South Island Sir
\nTipene O'Regan said the task of the Asia-Pacific Economic
\nCooperation (APEC) summit was to free trade around the Pacific.<\/p>\n
\"Your welcomes significantly begin another step on that great
\npath,\" O'Regan told the leaders.<\/p>\n
\"The giants from around this great ocean,\" as the chief called
\nthem, then sat down to talk about trade liberalization.<\/p>\n
They aim to lay down the ground-rules for global free trade
\ntalks due to start in Seattle in November under the auspices of
\nthe World Trade Organization (WTO).<\/p>\n
A confidential draft of the leaders' final communique,
\nobtained by Reuters on Friday and due for official release on
\nMonday, stressed the importance of continuing reforms in
\nfinancial markets to increase competition and prosperity.<\/p>\n
It hailed Asia's recovery from the economic slump of the past
\ntwo years, but stressed the need to boost market transparency and
\nregulation. It offered \"the strongest possible support\" to the
\nWTO talks and called for the repeal of export farm subsidies.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Bill Clinton, addressing a breakfast meeting of
\ncorporate executives on Sunday, said APEC should lead the opening
\nof global markets, which he said should be fairer.<\/p>\n
\"We must, in short, continue our efforts to put a human face
\non the global economy -- not because it is charity but because it
\nis the right thing to do from a humane as well as well as from an
\neconomic stand point,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of demonstrators around Auckland's Town Hall and
\nluxury hotels would have agreed. Protesters angry over causes
\nranging from China's Falun Gong spiritual movement to Kashmiri
\nindependence chanted and waved placards accusing the APEC leaders
\nof ignoring the needs of ordinary people.<\/p>\n
Ten thousand New Zealand Amnesty International supporters
\ncontributed their photographs to a 30-metre-long photo-mural
\nsaying \"APEC leaders must put human rights first\".<\/p>\n
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Canada thought
\ntrade talks should look at issues wider than just economics. He
\nsaid the WTO should include talk of labor and the environment.<\/p>\n
APEC does not discuss these issues and avoids any proposals
\ncapable of offending the grouping's extremely diverse membership.<\/p>\n
Its need for consensus in all areas has hampered its
\neffectiveness and much of its role in trade has been usurped in
\nrecent years by the WTO, where hard negotiations and horse-
\ntrading are the rule.<\/p>\n
The APEC gatherings still play an important role and offer the
\nchance for leaders from countries as diverse as Papua New Guinea,
\nVietnam, and the United States to meet on equal terms.<\/p>\n
But discussions among leaders away from the meeting rooms
\nfocused on politics.<\/p>\n
Chretien said much of the discussion in the corridors and
\nbilateral was on East Timor, where many hundreds of people have
\nbeen murdered since the territory voted by almost 80 percent for
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been gathering
\ncommitments from a group of APEC nations, at least nine so far,
\nprepared to commit troops to a U.N.-sanctioned peace-keeping
\nforce if it is approved by Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Clinton demanded on Sunday that Indonesia allow an
\ninternational force in East Timor and announced he was reviewing
\nU.S. commercial and economic ties with Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"We must help both the people of East Timor and the democratic
\nprocess in Indonesia because the world community seeks to have
\nthe integrity of democracy protected everywhere.\"<\/p>",
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