Apec leaders blame Europe for world trade deadlock

Asia-Pacific leaders including US president George Bush and China’s Hu Jintao sought to breathe life into stalled global trade negotiations at an annual summit today with a statement calling for a breakthrough in a stalemate with Europe over agricultural subsidies.

But the leaders, who clearly blamed Europe for the deadlock on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Busan, South Korea, stopped short of naming the continent in their statement on the World Trade Organisation talks. Officials said it was too politically sensitive to do so.

Australia and Canada wanted the statement to name Europe as the main obstacle in the WTO, but other leaders objected because they did not want to single out any country or region for criticism, officials said.

“You don’t have to name names, it’s quite obvious who are the people” the statement will be directed at, Philippine foreign secretary Alberto Romulo told the Associated Press.

The end-of-summit statement by leaders said instead: “We urge all other WTO members, and especially those that have the largest stake in the global trading system and derive the biggest benefits therefrom, to show the flexibilities needed to move the negotiations forward.”

They said “significant progress must be made” at a World Trade Organisation meeting next month in Hong Kong to advance the global trade body’s so-called Doha round.

“There is more at stake here than just another phase of economic liberalisation,” the leaders said. “A successful conclusion of the Doha round is crucial for the future credibility of WTO and the rules-based multilateral trading system.”

In a separate statement on broader APEC issues, the leaders promised to boost co-operation on fighting terrorism and preparing for a possible flu pandemic.

The statements, adopted by APEC’s 21 leaders, would be formally declared at a ceremony later today, South Korean officials said.

The leaders said the WTO’s Doha round “must be carried to a successful conclusion ... by the end of 2006”.

Agriculture has been a key sticking point and the APEC nations called for moves to open market access in that sector that could help unblock other bottlenecks.

“Unless progress is made in this area, we cannot make progress in the round as a whole,” the statement said. “Avoiding or compromising our ambition on this issue would mean that we would lower expectations for the round as a whole.”

In the broader statement, leaders endorsed a road map for lifting trade barriers across APEC member countries, including a planned reduction in trade transaction costs by 5% over the next five years.

Fears of a possible human pandemic spawned by bird flu have grown in recent days with China announcing its first human cases. Under a new initiative against bird flu, APEC countries committed to openness and information sharing, and said they would conduct a simulation exercise early next year to test regional responses in the event of an outbreak.

Condemning terrorism, the leaders said they would seek to dismantle terrorist groups and counter threats from weapons of mass destruction.

They also launched an initiative to protect intellectual property, seeking to stem counterfeit goods and software piracy, and said they would find ways to offset the effects of high oil prices.