APEC free trade pact is on track, Australia says

APEC free trade pact is on track, Australia says

CANBERRA (Reuter): Moves to implement APEC's free trade plan are back on track although agreement on key issues has yet to be reached, Australian Trade Minister Bob McMullan said yesterday.

He said Australia remained confident that leaders of the Asia- Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, due to meet in the Japanese city of Osaka in November, would agree to a blueprint on implementing the plan.

"Consensus has still to be reached on some of the key details but a blueprint has been developed," he told an APEC ministerial meeting on small and medium enterprises in Adelaide.

He rejected Australian media reports of major rifts among APEC members over whether to include all industries in the free trade plan.

"It would be naive to assume that 18 very diverse economies could agree unanimously and instantaneously on everything," McMullan said.

"Future headlines will show that progress in APEC is back on track."

Some APEC members, including Japan, have spoken out against including all sectors, particularly agriculture, in the ambitious agreement reached at last year's summit.

This would scrap trade barriers by 2020 for developing countries and by 2010 for industrialized members.

Australia, a driving force in the group, says total coverage, known in APEC jargon as comprehensiveness, is essential to the success of the free trade agreement.

"I remain confident that we will secure a good result on the principle of comprehensiveness at the Osaka leaders' meeting," McMullan said.

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