Asia-Pacific leaders call for trade talks in 2001
Asia-Pacific leaders call for trade talks in 2001
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Agencies): Asia-Pacific leaders gave a significant boost to the cause of global trade liberalization on Thursday, calling for a new round of trade talks under the World Trade Organization in 2001.
In a statement at the end of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in Brunei, leaders of the grouping's 21 economies reaffirmed their commitment to a fair and rules-based multilateral trading system" in what they called an "era of globalization.
They reiterated that there is a need to expeditiously launch a new WTO round for the benefit of all WTO members, particularly least developed and developing economies.
"We agree that a balanced and sufficiently broad-based agenda that responds to the interests and concerns of all WTO members should be formulated and finalized as soon as possible in 2001 and that a round be launched in 2001," the leaders added.
"We share the concern that globalization has its downside, too. Some are being left behind," the host of the Brunei summit, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, said at its conclusion. "Disparities between the rich and the poor continue to grow and many people are at risk of being marginalized."
"We simply cannot have a world in which the knowledge-based economies are all racing along the information superhighway while less-developed economies struggle with disease, famine and poverty," the sultan said.
The question of whether APEC's 21 member economies should call for a trade round to start next year has been hotly debated at the APEC meetings over the last few days.
The United States, Australia and New Zealand have pushed hard for firm dates for the start of a new round, while others, including Malaysia and South Korea, have said there was no point setting target dates until an agenda was agreed.
Many Western countries are anxious to see a new trade round launched as soon as possible to regain the momentum after the collapse of the WTO talks in Seattle last December, when anti- capitalist demonstrations led to the closing of the city amid rioting.
Advocates of free trade say the removal of tariffs, barriers to business and restrictions on the movement of goods and on the provision of services around the globe will bring prosperity to all.
Critics of the trend towards globalization -- the creation of a single world marketplace -- say the main beneficiaries of free trade are the rich countries and big businesses.
The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s showed how vulnerable some societies were to economic contagion through an open door policy and dulled some of the free trade ardour.
"There are a few countries that have tried to force their own values, economic regime and social system on other countries by taking advantage of economic globalisation," Chinese President Jiang Zemin told fellow summiteers.
He said a balance was needed as "economic globalisation is an objective requirement" which will foster development and peace.
Trade barriers sometimes help poorer countries defend and develop their markets, they argue.
Mercantilist ideals have been a hallmark of APEC since its inception in 1989, but APEC, which geographically ranges from Russia to Chile and economically from Japan to Papua New Guinea, does not promulgate binding agreements.
Several countries, aside from the United States, who want to forge ahead, have chosen to take the bilateral free trade route as extra insurance, because multilateral talks were taking time.
Singapore, along with Australia and New Zealand, is trying to spin a web of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) criss- crossing the Pacific.
APEC's avowed goal is free trade between all its developed economies by 2010 and all its emerging economies by 2020.
APEC leaders called for a quick conclusion to negotiations for China's entry to the WTO in 2001, and backed Taiwan's proposed entry. They also leant support to Russia and Vietnam for their eventual membership.
The leaders' statement also called for "appropriate measures" to promote stability in the oil market in the interests of consumers and producers and for an increase in oil supplies to promote long-term price stability.
The host for this year's APEC summit, the tiny sultanate of Brunei, is a major oil producer, as are neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia.
Other APEC members, such as Japan, are huge consumers and importers of oil, while the United States is both an oil producer and the world's biggest oil consumer.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.