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No grand visions expected from APEC summit, U.S. official says
August 30, 1999
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation : The United States hopes Pacific Rim leaders will make progress in opening up markets at a free-trade summit next month, but does not expect them to set any grand goals, an official said Friday.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has been tarnished over the last two years by perceptions that it has achieved little during Asia's financial crisis.
Ambassador Richard Boucher, the U.S. APEC coordinator, said the leaders of the 21-nation organization need to show at their meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, that APEC continues to be a dynamic force for free trade.
Run-up meetings to the APEC conference begin Sept. 7, with the leaders' gathering from Sept. 12-13.
At their summit last year, APEC leaders were forced to largely abandon a landmark free-trade agreement that would have slashed tariffs on dlrs 1.5 trillion in world trade. Opposition by Japan to opening up two of the nine proposed sectors _ fishing and forestry products _ forced APEC to send the plan to the World Trade Organization, where it has languished.
Again this year, APEC appears likely to pass the free-trade initiative to the 134-member WTO, which plans to launch a new round of global trade talks in Seattle in December.
Boucher said in a teleconference that the United States hopes APEC leaders will ``send a good strong message' urging the WTO to quickly reach agreements in areas that can provide tangible benefits to member nations.
Washington wants to limit the new round of WTO talks to just three years to prevent a repeat of the previous Uruguay Round, which dragged on for nearly eight years.
Two areas of negotiations _ agriculture and services _ are part of the so-called built-in agenda, meaning that countries agreed as part of the Uruguay package to reopen talks in those areas.
APEC trade ministers agreed earlier this year that the new talks should also address further reductions in tariffs on manufactured goods.
Boucher said he agreed with criticism this week from the APEC Business Advisory Council, a private business group, that APEC is moving too slowly to achieve the organization's goal of free trade and investment by 2010 for industrialized nations and 2020 for its poorer members.
``I don't doubt that they're right,' he said, noting that individual plans drawn up by APEC members to achieve the goal are ``murky and difficult to read.'
But he said APEC should be recognized for its work in keeping markets open during the regional financial crisis, and in some cases making markets more open.
Boucher said the sectors of natural gas, electronic commerce and air services are areas where APEC could show ``it is ready to move forward and strengthen markets.'
However, a ``big vision or grand goal' is unlikely to emerge from the APEC summit, he said.
He said United States continues to hope that talks can reopen on China's bid to join the WTO, and suggested there is still time for its entry this year.
``We very much want to get together and finish this up and strike a good deal, and get on with having China at the Seattle ministerial and moving forward into the WTO,' Boucher said.
He said the presence of U.S. President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin at the APEC summit could be a positive step.
APEC consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. |
