Wrapping up a summit dominated by the environment, Asia-Pacific leaders recently returned to their core agenda of trade, stepping up support for the deadlocked Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.

Pledging their own "political will" and "flexibility" to ensure that the stalled talks enter their final phase this year, the 21 member nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) urged their counterparts in the 151-member WTO to do the same.

"There has never been a more urgent need to make progress," the leaders said in a statement on the negotiations.

Since its beginnings in 2001, the Doha Round — which aims to lower trade barriers around the world by permitting free trade — has stalled because of fierce disagreement between rich and poor countries over the concessions needed to be made.

At stake is a trade agreement that the World Bank estimates would pump at least US$96 billion ($146 billion) a year into the global economy.

But noting that intensive negotiations have since resumed in Geneva, Switzerland, the APEC leaders yesterday urged their WTO partners to bridge their differences in the contentious areas of agriculture and industrial products.

Together, the APEC economies — including many of the biggest trading nations such as the United States, China and Japan — account for nearly half of world trade and 56 percent of global output.

But India — a major developing country that has been united with others like China in exerting pressure on rich nations in the Doha Round — is not a member of APEC.

Mr. Rakesh Joshi

Joshi Enterprise

Manager, Joshi Enterprise
Dispur, India

Free Member, Joined :02/02/2007
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