U.S. to push anti-terror agenda at APEC meeting

U.S. to push anti-terror agenda at APEC meeting

Agence France-Presse, Washington

The United States will push its global anti-terrorism agenda
at upcoming meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum and hopes the new focus will revitalize the 21-
member regional grouping, a US official said Thursday.

Washington hopes to use the Oct. 17-18 APEC ministers meetings
and the Oct. 20-21 leaders summit to press for strengthened
customs controls, improved aircraft, airport and port security,
curbs on financing for terrorists, and protection for critical
economic sectors like telecommunications and oil, the official
said.

In addition, President George W. Bush, Secretary of State
Colin Powell, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and U.S. trade
representative Robert Zoellick will use the Shanghai meetings to
look at ways for international markets to cope with the effects
of possible future terrorist attacks, he said.

The APEC talks will be the first major international meetings
since the Sept. 21 strikes in New York and Washington and the
creation of a U.S.-led anti-terrorism coalition that is seeking
to end extremist violence.

Those attacks have shifted the primary focus of the meetings
from boosting sluggish economies in the Asia-Pacific region to
the fight against terrorism, the official said.

"We are working now with our APEC economies to come up with a
very strong (anti-terrorism) statement at the meetings and we
expect that there will be a very strong statement," he said.

"Of course, we are still concerned about the general situation
but the new element will be how APEC economies can pull together
to counter terrorism," the official told reporters on condition
of anonymity.

"Obviously, it's a very important opportunity for the
economies and nations in the region to express their joint
commitment to fighting terrorism in very specific ways," he said.

Powell, Evans and Zoellick will lead the US charge in
Shanghai, urging APEC members to comply with UN anti-terrorism
resolutions and sign and ratify an international convention to
limit financing for extremists, the official said.

Bush will then follow, pressing home those points as well as
others to be discussed in the ministers meetings, including the
strengthening and standardization of various finance and security
measures, he said.

Those would include new steps to ensure the safety of
passenger and cargo air transport and prevent the disruption of
telecommunications and the global oil market as well as keeping
stricter customs inspections from interfering with international
trade, the official said.

"We want to look at how we can strengthen customs enforcement
so that we can meet our enhanced enforcement needs and at the
same time don't interfere with trade and how to cope with the
effects of terrorism by having policies that can minimize the
economic impact," the official said.

APEC was set up in 1989 as an informal talking group for a
dozen Asia-Pacific economies and has developed since into an
engine to drive global and regional free trade.