Summit zooms in on security, economy

Summit zooms in on security, economy

Alan Clendenning, Associated Press/Santiago

Pacific Rim leaders held a second day of talks Sunday on moves to
shore up global security and get rid of trade barriers seen as
impediments to economic growth.

Before gathering for talks Sunday, leaders of the 21-member
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum donned hand-woven
Chilean woolen ponchos for an official photograph. It has become
an annual tradition for the leaders to pose in local garb. Last
year in Thailand, they wore silk shirts.

The leaders were expected to close their two-day summit by
endorsing new security measures and World Trade Organization
talks aimed at liberalizing trade for the 148 WTO member nations.

They will also decide whether to back a communique on trade
and security issued by their trade and foreign ministers in the
Chilean capital before the leaders arrived.

The ministers strongly supported the WTO negotiations and also
proposed new counterterrorism measures to protect food stocks,
commercial air flights and cargo shipments among APEC member
countries.

The WTO talks collapsed last year in a dispute over reducing
subsidies offered by rich countries to their farmers. But the
negotiations resumed in July, and the push by APEC leaders to
keep the momentum going is seen as important because the members'
economies represent nearly half of the planet's trade.

APEC started in 1989 as a gathering to boost trade among
Pacific Rim nations, but its focus has broadened to include
security matters in recent years. Several APEC leaders have
pointed out that with increased acts of terrorism around the
globe, business and security have become inseparable.

Nuclear issues in Iran and North Korea, two nations in what
U.S. President George W. Bush has branded an "axis of evil,"
dominated APEC leaders' attention along with trade and economic
issues.

Bush met Saturday with leaders of China, Japan, Russia and
South Korea, all partners with the United States in the stalled
six-nation talks to persuade North Korea - which is not a part of
APEC - to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

No timeframe has been set for the resumption of negotiations,
though the United States is pushing for early next year.

Protests, many of them violent, marred the days leading up to
the summit. But a small demonstration Saturday in downtown
Santiago ended without incident.

On Friday, about 25,000 marched peacefully against Bush, the
war in Iraq and the APEC summit in one of the largest protests in
Chile since the military dictatorship ended in 1990.

Protesters say the push to expand free trade is little more
than a ploy by rich nations and multinational corporations to
boost profits, and doesn't give meaningful benefits to poor
nations mired in misery.

A World Bank study estimates that a successful conclusion to
the current round of WTO trade talks would help some 140 million
people escape poverty while adding US$50 billion (euro38 billion)
to the global economy by 2015.

The talks were launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 and were
supposed to be wrapped up by the end of this year. Everybody
acknowledges that that deadline will be missed.