Officials say APEC needs 'injection of dynamism'

Officials say APEC needs 'injection of dynamism'

BEIJING (Reuters): Asia-Pacific countries called for an
"injection of dynamism" into APEC on Friday to kick-start its
stalled agenda to liberalize trade and investment throughout the
region by 2020.

The call came at the close of a meeting of senior officials of
the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group held in
China's northeastern city of Dalian.

Senior APEC officials also hailed progress on China's entry to
the World Trade Organization and expressed support for the launch
of a new global trade round, according to a statement.

"They called for injection of dynamism into the APEC process
as it enters the second decade of development by sharpening and
updating the APEC vision and road map for achieving the Bogor
Goals," said the statement from the office of Wang Guangya,
chairman of the Dalian meeting.

The so-called Bogor Goals call for free and open trade and
investment in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010 for developed
countries and by 2020 for developing countries.

Some APEC economies and the business community have been
frustrated by the group's lack of progress on the free trade
credentials they first set out in 1994 in Bogor, Indonesia.

Critics have labeled APEC largely a "talking shop", and APEC
upset business leaders after it abandoned efforts to fast-track
tariff cuts in a range of sectors in New Zealand in 1999.

Officials said hopes were rising the October meeting of APEC
leaders in Shanghai could yield real achievements after China
recently threw its support behind the "Shanghai Accord", a U.S.
proposed plan to help reinvigorate the forum.

"It's fair to say they (Chinese officials) have picked up more
ambition," said one participant in the Dalian meeting.

"In the last couple of days, they've taken over the Shanghai
Accord and it's no longer a U.S. proposal -- the chair is now
leading," said the official, who declined to be identified.

But APEC members had yet to fully agree what the Shanghai
Accord would contain and were still searching for a consensus,
participants said.

APEC's support for China's entry to the WTO was more
unanimous, they said.

"Senior officials welcomed the decisive progress made in
China's accession to WTO," the statement said. "They also called
for early accession of Chinese Taipei, Russia and Vietnam into
WTO."

China is expected to formally join WTO by early next year at
the latest. Taiwan, or Chinese Taipei as it is called within
APEC, will enter the WTO shortly after China under a previous
agreement.
Although APEC agrees on the need for WTO members to launch a new
trade round at a meeting at Qatar in November, there was division
between members on what the agenda should cover.

"APEC members cover a wide spectrum of views on what should be
in the (WTO) agenda," said George Troup, senior APEC official for
New Zealand.

"So it will be pretty hard for APEC to come to a unified view
on the details of the agenda," he told Reuters by telephone.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Chile, 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.