Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The 18th APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) opens in Hanoi Wednesday with a focus on practical measures to strengthen cooperation and the multilateral trade system, including resuming the Doha talks.

Addressing the closed-door session yesterday morning, the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem said the participants would review cooperation among APEC member economies.

They would also put forward new initiatives and action plans including measures to improve Asia-Pacific investment and business environment and to push for the relaunch of the Doha round to trade liberalization negotiations.

The Doha Round talks, which have stumbled nearly five years, were suspended in July due to bitter differences among major World Trade Organization (WTO) members, particularly on agricultural issues.

During the two-day meeting, nearly 40 ministers from the Asia pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum would discuss the documents passed by the APEC Concluding Senior Officials' Meeting (CSOM).

The documents included a statement aimed at restarting the Doha round talks presented by WTO General Director Pascal Lamy, the Hanoi Action Plan for the implementation of the Busan Roadmap towards the Bogor goals, and the reform in APEC towards a more dynamic and effective forum.

The ministers are scheduled to touch upon the results of the ministers' meetings organized earlier in Vietnam before delivering them to APEC leaders for approval at the summit this weekend.

Additionally, they will consider the report tabled by the Counter Terrorism Task Force, as well as discuss the Regional Trading Arrangements and Free Trade Agreements (RTAs/FTAs), and the protection of intellectual property rights.

Speaking at the morning session, WTO chief Pascal Lamy briefed the gathering on the latest matters involving efforts to push forward WTO negotiations.

In his speech Lamy also clarified major reasons for the deadlock of the Doha round and proposed solutions, including calling for APEC member economies’contribution to push for a successful conclusion.

Among the senior officials attending yesterday’s session were US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, and foreign affairs ministers Alexander Downer of Australia, Taro Aso of Japan, Li Zhao Xing of China, and Peter Mackay of Canada.

The APEC ministers will attend a plenary session today with the participation of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

Except for Russia, all APEC economies are WTO members.

The 21-member grouping comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, South Korea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

Source: Thanh Nien News