APEC looks for pathways to Asia-Pacific free trade area

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HIROSHIMA, Feb. 22 Kyodo -
Senior officials from Pacific Rim economies accelerated their efforts Monday to
seek ''possible pathways'' to a region-wide free trade zone, but fell short of
reaching any consensus except to continue necessary work.
After a meeting in Hiroshima, where Japan formally took up its chairmanship of
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for 2010, a Japanese official said,
''We already have very sensible analytical studies but also have lots of issues
that require further discussions.''
The two-day talks between the 21 APEC members came ahead of a series of
ministerial meetings scheduled this year and centered on preparatory dialogues
to lay the groundwork for APEC leaders to issue an annual joint statement at
their summit in November in Yokohama.
Their priority issues also include making efforts to develop a strategy that
would ensure economic growth in APEC as a whole, while the forum, established
in 1989, assesses the extent to which its developed members have achieved its
Bogor Goals of trade and investment liberalization, set 16 years ago.
Japan proposed to offer assistance to other member economies with its
energy-efficient technologies as part of the effort to fight climate change.
APEC shares the view that promoting business investments in such areas as
environmental protection and energy conservation would lead to sustainable
economic growth and the creation of employment within the region, the Japanese
official said.
As for the potential free trade zone, the senior APEC officials discussed how
to explore ''possible pathways'' to a Free Trade Area in the Asia-Pacific
region.
It remains uncertain, however, how fast they can build a consensus for an FTAAP
as some officials say APEC is too vast an economic bloc to agree on a single
opinion, and that some members, especially China, remain cautious toward the
United States establishing a strong foothold in Asia.
APEC, which accounts for half the world's global economic output and 44 percent
of its trade value, also involves Russia, Australia and Singapore.
The Bogor Goals, named after the Indonesian city where APEC leaders reached the
agreement in 1994 and implemented under the Osaka Action Plan charted in 1995,
when Japan last chaired the forum, set liberalization targets for developed
members by 2010 and for less-developed members by 2020.
APEC is reviewing how trade and investment have been freed thanks to the
initiatives of the World Trade Organization and various bilateral or
multilateral accords in the region.
Amid signs of a global economic recovery, APEC will attempt to share the
understanding of a strategy for sustainable and ''inclusive'' economic growth
in APEC.
In 2009, under the chairmanship of Singapore, APEC leaders agreed that growth
after the global recession must be more inclusive, with less-developed APEC
members as well as those in socially weak positions not left behind or
disadvantaged by protectionism in international trade.
The series of talks which Japan is scheduled to host in 2010 includes a meeting
of trade ministers on June 5-6 in Hokkaido, of finance ministers on Nov. 6 in
Kyoto, and of trade and foreign ministers on Nov. 10-11 in Yokohama.
APEC leaders will meet in the eastern Japanese port city for their summit on
Nov. 13-14.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and
Vietnam.
==Kyodo