Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Trade ministers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries will meet in Thailand next month with a main agenda to seek ways of resolving wide differences over trade liberalization of sensitive agriculture sector, a top official at the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

Aside from this main issue, the 21 APEC ministers will also discuss controversial policies proposed by the United States such as the Bioterrorism act and the Secure Trade in APEC region (STAR).

The ministerial meeting will be held on June 1-3 in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

"The meeting will focus on how APEC can contribute to the WTO process in a bid to smooth the upcoming September talks in Cancun, Mexico," Pos M. Hutabarat, director general for industry cooperation and international trade affairs at the ministry said.

Pos said that the ministerial meeting was important as it would provide a forum for both developed and developing nations to reduce their differences in a number of trade issues.

The 146 member nations of the WTO have previously missed several key deadlines including on the agriculture agenda.

The U.S. has been leading a campaign for WTO member countries to slash their import tariffs on agricultural products, but Japan has insisted that it would maintain its tariffs, particularly on rice.

Developing countries have also demanded developed nations to eliminate government subsidies in the agricultural sector, while countries from Europe want to maintain subsidies to protect their farmers.

Both the developed and developing countries had previously held several meetings to narrow the differences, but they failed to reach any agreement.

Indonesia said Pos, will propose for a conservative tariff cuts in which tariff reduction must be carried out in stages.

APEC was set up in November 1989 and designed to boost regional economic cooperation and investment liberalization.

It now has 21 member countries including 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.