APEC begins first talks for Osaka summit

APEC begins first talks for Osaka summit

FUKUOKA, Japan (AFP): Senior officials of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum kicked off a three-day meeting
here yesterday, the first talks since leaders of the 18-member
group agreed to work towards the goal of free trade and
investment in the region by 2020.

The meeting is the first in a series of high-level talks ahead
of the annual gathering of APEC ministers in Osaka in November,
which is to be followed by the third summit between APEC leaders.

At their second summit in the Indonesian city of Bogor three
months ago, the APEC leaders set regional free trade and
investment deadlines of 2010 for industrialized members and 2020
for developing members.

Japan, as this year's chairman and the world's biggest aid
donor, is stressing economic and technical cooperation as a
second "pillar" of APEC activities in addition to the broad area
of trade and investment.

In a message to the opening session of the three-day meeting,
Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said "specific strategic
guidelines" were now needed to "govern the full spectrum of APEC
activities into the 21st century" and that drafting an action
agenda was the main task for this year.

"This action agenda must give a clear signal of our intention
to maintain the momentum of the Bogor declaration," he said,
adding that it also had to be "practical and flexible" enough to
accommodate regional diversity.

"Comprehensive guidelines embodied in the action agenda should
include elements of economic and technical cooperation, as well
as measures to facilitate trade and investment liberalization."

Kono, who is also deputy prime minister, meanwhile defined the
goals of a Japanese proposal to APEC known as the "partners for
progress" initiative.

"Its objective is to mobilize the individual expertise and
experience of each of the members of APEC to engage in mutual
assistance," he said.

Concern

In a separate message, International Trade and Industry
Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said the immediate concern was to
ensure that all members fulfilled Uruguay Round commitments to
the World Trade Organization.

"Our longer term concern is, as noted in the Bogor
declaration, to consider ways to deepen and broaden the outcome,"
the Japanese minister said.

Hashimoto also noted that the private sector was the driving
force in APEC economies and that this should be reflected in the
action agenda.

"We in APEC can further invigorate this private-sector
activity by drawing up an action agenda that assures the private
sector the realm of free economic activity will expand over the
mid- to long-term," he said.

"Furthermore, it is equally important to give business a real
sense of tangible progress by producing tangible results as soon
as possible."

The three-day meeting in this southern Japanese city is being
jointly chaired by Hiromoto Seki, Japan's new ambassador to APEC,
and Hidehiro Konno, director general of the international trade
and industry ministry's economic cooperation department.

Seki was named by the cabinet last Friday to succeed Tetsuya
Endo, who is becoming the Japanese envoy to the Korea Energy
Development Organization, an international consortium to make
North Korea's nuclear program safer.

While senior APEC officials generally meet four times a year
to prepare for the annual meetings of ministers responsible for
foreign affairs and trade, this year's format is somewhat
different with three meetings followed by "special" talks
focussing on trade and investment in the longer term.

The Fukuoka meeting is expected to be followed by high-level
talks in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo in July. The third
meeting, expected to be held in October, will probably be in
Tokyo, Japanese officials said.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand and the United States.