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.