'APEC leaders intend to restart WTO talks'

'APEC leaders intend to restart WTO talks'

Agence France-Presse, Bangkok

World leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit intend to push for failed WTO talks to be restarted, Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai said on Wednesday.

Breaking the deadlock between rich and poor nations that emerged during the talks at Cancun, Mexico last month and putting the Doha Round of free trade negotiations back on track is a major goal of the Bangkok talks.

"The most important thing for APEC concerning the WTO is that the negotiations should go on, not stop. That is the message APEC wants to send to the rest of the world," Surakiart told reporters.

"If the 21 (APEC) economies' leaders agree to push to continue with the WTO negotiations for the benefit of everybody, it will be a very strong message for the current WTO talks," he said.

The foreign minister said, however, that explicit discussion of the so-called "Singapore issues", which were at the heart of the conflict between developed and developed countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO)talks in Cancun, did not fall under APEC's mandate.

"APEC is not a forum to express positions on every topic," he said when asked if the issues, which relate to cross-border investment, competition policies, trade facilitation and government procurement, would be raised.

Developing countries opposed the inclusion of the issues, fearing in particular that a new international investment regime would benefit multilateral corporations at the expense of their own industries.

"The matter of who agrees or disagrees with each topic is for the negotiation process of the WTO," Surakiart said.

"The issue of most importance is that negotiations should go on after being suspended in Cancun. We need new momentum for a new negotiation round."

Senior officials holding two days of discussions concluding Wednesday have already agreed that APEC needs to cooperate to send a strong signal for the success of the WTO talks, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Surakiart said the APEC ministerial meeting to be held on Friday and Saturday that he will co-chair with Commerce Minister Adisai Bhotharamik would give prominence to the WTO issue.

APEC groups 21 Pacific Rim nations: 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.