APEC leaders pledge to revive economic growth

APEC leaders pledge to revive economic growth

Alan Wheatley, Reuters, Shanghai

Pacific Rim leaders pledged on Sunday to put their economies
back on the growth track but stopped short of a specific
commitment to expansive fiscal and monetary policies.

A declaration issued after a two-day summit of the 21-member
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum said governments
had undertaken to adopt "appropriate policies and measures to
increase economic growth".

The statement dropped a pledge contained in an earlier draft
to pursue "pro-growth fiscal and monetary policies" to help the
world economy get over the shock to confidence inflicted by the
deadly attacks on the United States on Sept. 11.

The leaders also opted for more soothing language about the
state of global financial markets, dropping an earlier reference
to the need for "decisive" policy actions to "stabilize" markets.

"It is important for all economies to take timely policy
actions to strengthen markets and facilitate an early pick-up in
global economic activity," they declared.

The leaders said they were committed to maintaining public
confidence by fighting protectionism and launching a new round of
negotiations to tear down barriers to global commerce.

"We emphasize the need for a balanced, sufficiently broad-
based agenda, which is achievable. This is essential to the
successful launch and conclusion of the New Round," they said.

Ministers from the 142-member World Trade Organization (WTO)
are scheduled to meet from November 9-13 to try to launch a new
round, which has been in limbo since the first attempt to agree
an agenda ended in acrimony at a conference in Seattle in 1999.

The WTO is due to meet in Doha, but the statement endorsed by
APEC leaders made no reference to the Qatari capital.

"We strongly support an open, equitable and rules-based
multilateral trading system and the launch of the WTO New Round
at the upcoming WTO ministerial conference. This has assumed
added urgency in the context of the current slowdown," Chinese
President Jiang Zemin said.

Jiang read a summary of the summit's conclusions, flanked by
his fellow leaders, all dressed in bright Chinese silk jackets.

Some ministers have expressed misgivings about holding the
conference in the Gulf state because of security concerns in the
Middle East as Washington's war against terrorism unfolds.

Appended to the declaration was the "Shanghai Accord", which
sets out a new roadmap for reaching APEC's non-binding goal of
free trade and investment by 2010 for the group's developed
country members and by 2020 for its emerging economies.

The accord said a sharpened strategy was needed to reflect the
rapid changes in the world economy since the goal was first
agreed at an APEC summit in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994.

"Globalization and the New Economy have transformed the global
and regional economy significantly since the Bogor Goals,
bringing forward extraordinary opportunities as well as
challenges. APEC's vision needs to reflect these changes."

Key to the Shanghai Accord is the adoption of a "pathfinder
approach" that gives the green light to countries to forge ahead
with market-opening measures even if other members of APEC are
not ready to follow.

Leaders said they also recognized the need for stronger
economic and technical cooperation and promised to take stock of
the progress toward their free trade and investment goals in
2005.

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