Preparatory APEC meeting closes in Japan

Preparatory APEC meeting closes in Japan

FUKUOKA, Japan (AFP): The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum wound up three days of talks here yesterday as the
United States called for more work on a new Japanese development
aid initiative.

But the group's preparations for this year's summit of APEC
leaders in Osaka in November were extended to a previously
unscheduled fourth day of talks to discuss specific trade and
investment issues.

APEC sources said the "special" meeting of senior officials
today would be devoted to working out the "elements, modalities
and timetables" for implementing a declaration by APEC leaders in
Indonesia last year.

At their second summit in Bogor in November, leaders from the
18-member group set two deadlines for achieving free trade and
investment in the region -- 2010 for industrialized members and
2020 for developing members.

"In some ways, the meeting on Thursday is more important as it
will be dealing with all of the implications of the Bogor
declaration," said a senior official from one APEC country who
asked not to be named.

Japanese officials said the special talks would be a kind of
"brainstorming" session in a smaller group of APEC delegates,
separating the long-term task of working out a blueprint for free
trade from the more mundane job of preparing for the annual
gathering of ministers.

APEC usually holds four rounds of high-level talks to prepare
for ministerial meetings. But Japan proposed holding only three
rounds this year, accompanied by the special meetings on trade
and investment.

During the three-day meeting here, APEC officials discussed
various cooperation issues including human resources,
infrastructure, small and medium-sized enterprises, energy,
environment and sustainable development.

Partners

Japan, as the current chair of APEC, meanwhile proposed
details of its "partners for progress" initiative unveiled at
last year's annual meeting in Jakarta. The initiative seeks to
move away from the traditional one-sided approach to development
aid by establishing a more cooperative network.

Sandra Kristoff, U.S. coordinator for APEC at the State
Department, said the "underlying hope" of the Japan proposal was
for a "new form of cooperation -- not the traditional-donor
recipient."

"Whether the Japanese can fulfill this hope depends upon, I
think, whether APEC members in working with Japan can refine the
proposal so that it is closely related to APEC's goals," she told
a news conference.

Kristoff said the three-day meeting here was otherwise "very
much of success," with Japan showing its commitment to the Bogor
declaration.

"The Japanese chair made very clear that Japan intends to
exercise leadership to help APEC produce for Osaka an action
agenda that covers all three of the areas spelled out in the
Bogor declaration," she said, referring to liberalization and
facilitation of trade and investment along with development
cooperation.

"There is a new sense of energy among senior officials and we
all know that every APEC activity has to get zeroed in and
focussed on those three elements."

Other items on the agenda at the Fukuoka meeting included what
to do with the group's small secretariat in Singapore. The
current three-year arrangement, with APEC members paying for
seconded professional staff and Singapore footing the rest of the
bill, expires at the end of this year.

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

Secretariat -- Page 5

Rates -- Page 10