APEC leaders to adopt declaration on free trade, avian flu, terrorism





BUSAN - Leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies today will close their two-day summit forum in Busan, Korea, with a declaration promising efforts to resurrect stalled global trade talks, reaffirm the Bogor goals and fight against human security threats like bird influenza.
Alongside the comprehensive declaration, the leaders agreed to issue a separate joint statement urging swift completion for the World Trade Organization in its Doha Development Agenda negotiations by the end of next year.

"Many of the leaders emphasized that in order to make progress in the DDA negotiations, the European Union must show enthusiastic and flexible attitude in relation to the agriculture issue," Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said in a briefing yesterday.

The leaders will announce another separate initiative on preventing avian influenza, minimizing damage from sharing information, technology and assuring transparent management of any possible pandemic.


President Roh Moo-hyun (center) opens the first session of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan yesterday. [Lee Gil-dong/The Korea Herald]

Under the general statement to be named the "Busan Declaration," the leaders also approved the so-called Busan Roadmap, named under this year"s host city, to establish mid-term objectives in reaching the Bogor Goals, which the member economies have dubbed as the Bible or Koran of APEC.

The summit of economic leaders, themed "Towards One Community: Meet the Challenge, Make the Change," opened its session last week with APEC ambassadors and ministers preparing the final declaration to be agreed and announced by the 21 heads of states and governments.

The members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Among the key agreements was the first consensus to be reached by the leaders to establish joint research seeking how to dissolve disparities between social and economic levels among the member countries for the sake of a sustainable market.

"APEC leaders conceded that interest and measures toward the disparities in social and economic areas was crucial to achieving sustainable trade liberalization and balanced development of markets," Ban said.

With tight security across the southern port city and pre-emptive measures taken against any terrorist attacks for the safety of the world leaders, Busan acted as the venue for one of the world"s largest multinational summit talks.

High spirits and co-operation from citizens overshadowed large-scale anti-APEC rallies by the farmers" alliance and others staged in several spots around Busan as well as in Seoul.

About 15,000 South Korean students, farmers and workers clashed with police in Busan yesterday, opposing the summit forum and the promotion of free global trade, citing the move to liberalize agricultural and others would threaten their livelihood.

Busan, encouraged by the APEC experience, announced in the middle of the forum its bid to host the 2020 Olympics.

Participating leaders including United States President George W. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, signed the declaration supporting the WTO"s DDA negotiations due to resume in Hong Kong next month, the Bogor Goals of trade liberalization established in 1994, expansion of regional and free trade agreements, as well as to begin talks on dissolving disparities in social and economic levels among the member countries.

After two sessions of retreats conducted yesterday to be continued today, the leaders will sign the declaration this afternoon.

Upon the announcement the leaders will follow the APEC tradition of dressing in the traditional clothes of the host country and pose for pictures before returning home.

Separately from the government-level talks, the leaders will also acknowledge progress made in the talks with participating businesses, or the APEC Business Advisory Council.

This year, trade liberalization topped the list of priority topics. Human security issues, which include counterterrorism and fighting corruption, also became a chief priority. For the first time, a global response to health risks such as bird flu was made.

The separate WTO statement is aimed to give momentum to the Doha round talks that had been deadlocked for years due to differences on agricultural export subsidies and tariff reductions for non-agricultural products.

In fighting terrorism, the members envisioned more effective control on exports, imports and management of radioactive sources, while agreeing to self-evaluate weaknesses in major international airports against Portable Air Defense Systems.

However, the forum spent little time discussing reform of the APEC, which is facing consistent criticism for lacking efficiency by encompassing excessively wide areas among its limited membership.

(angiely@heraldm.com)

By Lee Joo-hee