Leaders from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) closed their annual meeting in Hanoi yesterday,
calling for joint efforts for resumption of the Doha round negotiations and
committed to further facilitate free trade and investment in the region.
At the two-day meeting, the leaders reached consensus on a range of issues
including advancing free trade and investment, enhancing human security, and
building stronger societies and a more dynamic and harmonious community.
"With a strong commitment to achieving the vision of stability, security and
prosperity for the Asia-Pacific region, we agreed to make every effort for
realizing APEC's goals of free and open trade and investment," said a
declaration issued at the end of the meeting.
The leaders adopted a statement, calling for early resumption of the Doha
round negotiations, endorsed the Hanoi Action Plan to implement the Busan
roadmap towards the Bogor Goals of the free trade and investment in the region.
They reaffirm their collective and individual commitments to concluding an
ambitious and balanced WTO Doha agreement and said there was "an urgent need to
break the current deadlock and to put the negotiations back on a path towards a
timely conclusion."
The Doha Development Agenda (DDA), established in 2001, sets out goals for
liberalizing trade in agriculture, manufactured goods and services, while
allowing developing countries time to strengthen fragile industries.
The Hanoi Action Plan, adopted at the meeting, will help translate the Busan
roadmap into reality by elaborating concrete actions for APEC member economies
to take in five areas including the promotion of high-quality regional trade
arrangements and free trade agreements.
On the human security in the region, the leaders pledged to continue efforts
to combat terrorism in every form and manifestation, enhance cooperation in
preventing and responding Avian and Influenza pandemics, and expand efforts
toward combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region.
The leaders also agreed to further intensify cooperation in emergency
preparedness and disaster response, and take measures to safeguard energy
security for the region's sustainable economic development.
At the closing press conference, Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet said
that the leaders' discussions also touched on the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula and produced a statement on it.
Before the leaders' meeting, APEC also held a two-day Ministerial Meeting on
Nov. 15-16 and a Senior Official Meeting on Nov. 12-13, striking out the final
documents for the leaders to approve after consensus on some issues.
The leaders' meeting was also accompanied by an APEC Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) Summit and a Business Advisory Council meeting, at which leaders and
executives stressed the need to cooperate and share experience in economic
development.