ASEM ministers hope to send positive signal ahead of WTO
ASEM ministers hope to send positive signal ahead of WTO
Peter Harmsen, Agence France-Presse, Dalian, China
Asian and European economic ministers gathering in China hope to send a strong signal on the need to revive stalled global trade talks at a crucial WTO meeting this fall, officials and delegates said on Wednesday.
The Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) of economic ministers in the northeastern city of Dalian comes just weeks before the World Trade Organization (WTO) will seek to breathe new life into stagnating trade negotiations in Cancun, Mexico.
"If the ASEM meeting can send a positive signal to the Cancun meeting, then its contribution will be fully realized," Chinese Assistant Commerce Minister Yi Xiaozhun said.
Delegates agreed that the ASEM economic ministers' meeting would be an opportunity to express commitment to global trade liberalization and iron out differences ahead of the September talks in Mexico.
"It's one of the last chances to exchange views beforehand," said a European delegate.
The thorny issue of agriculture, considered the key to reviving the WTO negotiations, was likely to figure high on the ASEM agenda, with a focus on tariff reductions and cuts in subsidies, delegates said.
"The agricultural sector is going to be a very critical issue in the coming negotiation process," said South Korean Trade Minister Hwang Doo-Yun. "So at this meeting, of course we will touch upon this issue too."
European delegates said a recent European Union agreement to cut farm subsidies that cost nearly half of all EU spending would be helpful in bridging differences with their Asian counterparts.
"After the political signal the EU has given with respect to agriculture, we have lifted a taboo," said Gaston Van Duyse-Adam, Belgium's ambassador to China, who represented his country's economic minister at the meeting.
"We're coming to zones of agreement more than zones of contention."
Economic ministers, or their representatives, are scheduled to meet in two separate Asian and European for on Wednesday, before a full meeting on Thursday.
The ASEM gathering, which includes officials from China, Japan, South Korea, seven Southeast Asian nations and the 15 countries of the EU, coordinates and directs trade and economic cooperation between Asia and Europe.
Apart from global trade, the delegates are also likely to discuss issues such as the economic aftermath of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic in Asia and the Iraq war.
The Chinese yuan -- considered by many to be severely undervalued -- is an issue that is not on the agenda but may be discussed on the sidelines, given its importance for many of the ASEM members.
South Korean Trade Minister Hwang said on Wednesday that his country was "very much concerned" about the exchange rate of the yuan.
"The Chinese yuan is a very important factor to the trading partners, so we are very much concerned about the yuan exchange rate," Hwang said after meeting Chinese Commerce Minister Lu Fuyuan in a bilateral setting.
It "should be discussed" if the yuan should lose its peg against the U.S. dollar, he said.
"Our position is very clear, which is that exchange rates should be decided by the market," he said.
The yuan has been effectively linked to the U.S. dollar since 1994, allowing Chinese exporters to gain competitiveness because of the recent decline of the U.S. currency.