After dressing up in a traditional Korean overcoat, called
"Turumage," for a group photo in front of the Nurimaru APEC House,
leaders of the 21 member economies of Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) brought an end to their two-day meeting
today.
The Asia-Pacific Rim leaders gathered in Busan, South Korea to
discuss investment opportunities in the region, the rising threat
of a possible bird flu pandemic and concerns about stalled global
trade talks.
As a tangible result, the APEC economic leaders adopted a Busan
Declaration, a Statement on Doha Development Agenda (DDA)
Negotiations, and a Statement on Preparing for and Mitigating an
Influenza Pandemic.
The documents promise efforts to revive deadlocked global trade
talks, reaffirm the Bogor Goals, and fight against human security
threats like bird flu and serious natural disasters.
APEC leaders "have reiterated their support for the WTO since
the inception of the Economic Leaders' Meeting," the declaration
says.
"We showed our strong political will in a separate statement, in
which we declared our firm support for the DDA negotiations to
proceed expeditiously so as to achieve an ambitious and overall
balanced outcome at the end of the round," it says.
The DDA, established in 2001, sets out goals for liberalizing
trade in agriculture, manufactured goods and services, while
allowing developing countries time to strengthen fragile
industries.
The trade negotiations have stalled due to strong objections
from the developed nations, especially European countries. The EU's
reduction of tariffs on agricultural products and farm subsidies
has been considered the key to resurrecting the troubled talks.
EU officials, however, have argued that it is also necessary for
developing countries to open up their service and manufacturing
sectors.
The declaration says APEC leaders welcomed the outcomes of the
Mid-term Stocktake on the progress toward achieving the Bogor
Goals, which confirm that APEC has made momentous strides toward
free and open trade and investment.
The Bogor Goals, named after the city in Indonesia where they
were declared in 1994, specify the APEC objectives for eliminating
developed members' trade and investment barriers by 2010, and those
of developing members by 2020.
How to prevent a possible avian influenza pandemic is another
important issue APEC leaders discussed during their meeting.
"We agreed on collective, practical measures, including
strengthening cooperation and technical assistance among APEC
economies to limit avian influenza at its source and prevent human
outbreaks," the declaration says.
Under the APEC 2005 theme, "Toward One Community: Meet the
Challenge, Make the Change," the Economic Leaders' Meeting advanced
their common vision of achieving stability, security and prosperity
for the region's peoples.
APEC leaders also seek to reduce global disparity. "We agreed to
conduct a study of ways to confront the challenges and impediments
related to socio-economic disparity issues," they said in the
declaration.
The APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting was held after foreign and
trade ministers from the 21 member economies reached agreement on
supporting the deadlocked global trade negotiations and ways to
combat terrorism and bird flu.
After a two-day APEC Ministerial Meeting, the ministers agreed
on November 16 that there are differences among participants in
global trade talks, and said the success of WTO ministerial talks
slated for December in Hong Kong is a "critical" step toward
completing the DDA by the end of 2006.
The ministerial meeting was preceded by a two-day APEC
Concluding Senior Officials' Meeting, which started November 12 to
prepare documents for the series of APEC meetings.
Meanwhile, an APEC CEO Summit was held between November 16 and
18.
The CEO Summit was officially recognized as a sideline event and
gained its current name at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in
Auckland in 1999.
At the event, nine economic leaders from 21 APEC member
economies spoke before global business magnates on issues ranging
from economic policy to trade and taxation, while policymakers also
had opportunities to receive feedback from them.
(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2005)
