APEC faces WTO jam, bird flu fears and security
APEC faces WTO jam, bird flu fears and security
Martin Abbugao, Agence France-Presse/Busan, South Korea
Asian and Pacific nations worked Saturday to ease the deadlock in troubled global trade talks and agreed joint measures to help prevent a possible bird flu pandemic.
The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum began talks in the South Korean city of Busan amid gloomy predictions about the Dec. 13-18 World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong.
A U.S. official said the fate of the 2001 Doha round of WTO talks, which has foundered mainly over trade-distorting agricultural subsidies in rich countries, would dominate discussions over the coming week.
"The biggest issue right now is what to do about the WTO. The WTO is the highest priority facing APEC," said the official, asking to remain anonymous.
A Southeast Asian official said it was vital the Hong Kong talks were not seen as a failure and that officials were working on a "short and punchy" statement urging all sides to make concessions.
"Failure means there is absolutely no agreement, and we don't want the Hong Kong meeting to be a failure," said the official, asking to remain anonymous.
"APEC will urge everyone, especially the major players, to give and take."
Powerful developing countries such as Brazil and India argue that farm subsidies in rich nations -- the United States and the European Union in particular -- depress global farm prices and prevent growers in poor nations from competing.
But the divisions also cut across rich nations, with the EU under fire from the United States and Australia, and Japan, Norway and Switzerland saying they are wary of the impact of tariff cuts on their farm sectors.
APEC officials also discussed bird flu.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has killed more than 60 people since 2003 and led to the destruction of millions of birds. Experts fear it could mutate into a strain more easily passed between humans and cause a global pandemic.
Another official said discussions focused on how APEC countries would respond to a pandemic and plans for an APEC-wide mock exercise simulating a human-to-human outbreak.
He said they agreed to more cooperation, and that more developed APEC members offered expertise and assistance to less developed members.
The officials also discussed stockpiling of Tamiflu and the relaxing of intellectual property regulations on the antiviral drug, considered the best treatment for the virus in humans.
Energy security, including cooperation on oil exploration and the search for alternative sources of energy, as well as efforts to improve maritime security were also addressed.
But a proposal by the United States aimed at reducing the vulnerability of commercial aircraft to heat-seeking surface-to- air missiles was vetoed by China, an official said.
As APEC officials began a session that will culminate in a full summit on November 18 and 19, activists vowed 100,000 people would take to the streets of Busan in protests against the free trade agenda.
Over 37,000 police and security officials have been deployed around the conference venue and at sensitive sites such as the airport and train station to prevent terrorist attacks and contain protests.
Some 80 protest leaders said they would organize rallies throughout the week and that the biggest protest would be on November 18, on the opening day of the summit which will include U.S. President George W. Bush.
"APEC is playing the vanguard role of spreading new liberalism in trade which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer," said O Jong-Ryul, head of the People's Action against APEC.
The APEC forum was launched in 1989 with the goal of establishing a free trade area among its members by 2020, but in recent years its agenda has been expanded to include the main pressing global issues.
The forum groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.