Ministers and representatives from the 21 member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) passed a draft joint statement here Thursday, calling for the early restarting of the Doha Round of trade talks to achieve a productive outcome next year.

They agreed to "explore every avenue to achieve the necessary breakthroughs at the earliest opportunity and to put the Doha work on a path towards an ambitious and balanced outcome in 2007," said the draft statement, which will be submitted to the upcoming APEC economic leaders meeting for approval.

The ministers and representatives recommended APEC economic leaders to issue a stand-alone statement on the Doha Round, reaffirming APEC resolve in resuming the negotiation process without further delay. The Doha round began in the Qatari capital at the end of 2001, aiming to reduce subsidies, tariffs and other barriers to commerce and raising living standards in developing countries.

But the talks were suspended in July due to bitter disputes between rich and poor nations, as well as among wealthy players, over what concessions are required. "All ministers agreed that the top priority for APEC in the near future is the Doha Round," said Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen, who is also a cochairman of the just concluded APEC ministerial meeting, at a press conference.

He said that ministers also agreed that the mid-term objective of APEC is to achieve the Bogor goals of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010 for industrialized economies and 2020 for developing economies.

As to the establishment of Asia-Pacific wide free trade arrangements (RTAs), Tuyen said that it is a long-term APEC objective as agreed upon by the ministers.

In the daft statement, the ministers and representatives emphasized the high importance of WTO capacity of building activities of APEC as a tool to enable developing member economies to accede to and to fully participate in WTO negotiations.

Thus, these member economies will enjoy "the full benefits of WTO membership and the potential of trade towards social and economic development," said the draft statement.

APEC has 21 member economies, including China, the United States, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and Australia, which account for more than a third of the world's population, over 50 percent of world's GDP and 40 percent of world trade.