The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, whose 21
members account for nearly half of world trade, is saying "no" to
India and a slew of other countries that want to join, for now.
Expansion of the grouping is being delayed, at least until 2010,
according to a draft of a statement to be released by APEC leaders
this weekend.
"No new members," Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman
Mitsuo Sakaba said when asked.
The decision leaves pending membership requests from a dozen
countries including India, Mongolia and Colombia. The backlog is
due in part to a 10-year moratorium on new members APEC imposed in
1997 that was supposed to expire this year.
The draft leaders' statement did not say if the moratorium would
be formally extended. The leaders could decide to change the terms
at their weekend meeting. The fact that the paragraph on expansion
in the draft was enclosed in brackets means that officials were
still wrangling over the wording.
"We agreed to review the issue of membership in 2010/2011/2012,"
the bracketed text said.
The new members were being put off because the group, in the
draft's words, does not want expansion to slow momentum toward
"regional integration and open economies."
But the delay also comes from APEC's complicated politics,
diplomats and officials said. The group has tried to strike a
balance between rich and poor members, Asian and American ones.
India's presence would be a big boost for the Asian camp and its
bid is supported by the US. If India is admitted, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka would want in too.
Food, product safety
The APEC members are trying to map out a more robust approach to
strengthening the region's food and product safety standards as
ministers from the 21-member bloc opened their annual meeting
yesterday.
The measure is among a number of initiatives outlined in a draft
declaration prepared for the meeting of trade and foreign ministers
from the APEC forum ahead of their leaders' summit at the
weekend.
"We agreed on the need to develop a more robust approach to
strengthening food and consumer product safety standards and
practices in the region, using scientific risk-based approaches,
and without necessarily compromising trade," the draft declaration
says.
(China Daily September 6, 2007)
