[asia-apec 1670] Sydney Morning Herald - APEC2000

[APEC Monitoring Group]

17.11.00 Sydney Morning Herald
Pacific leaders gird to tame the world trade monster 

By TOM ALLARD, Herald Correspondent in Brunei 

The issue of globalisation moved from the streets to the halls of power yesterday when APEC leaders strongly supported the concept but endorsed a range of new measures for those left behind.

The leaders announced their support for new World Trade Organisation talks to begin next year - a surprise after APEC ministers had failed to agree on the issue just days earlier. 

The decision means Australia has achieved its main objective at the summit and gives a much needed boost to the credibility of the 21-nation Pacific Rim group. 

Developing countries had resisted the new WTO round, but rich countries won their support by resolving to fix the "wide disparities in wealth and knowledge and bring the benefits of globalisation to all our people".

APEC will help countries develop safety nets and exploit new technologies. Leaders vowed to have Internet access in every community by 2010.

Opposition to globalisation has brought demonstrators onto the streets at the WTO and the World Economic Forums in Seattle, Davos and Melbourne. In Brunei, where there were no demonstrators, the leaders declared globalisation a force for good.

"We are convinced that the movement toward global integration holds the greatest opportunity to deliver higher living standards and social well-being for our communities," the communiqué said. 

It also called for stability in oil prices, another key goal of Australia's. A similar call by APEC foreign ministers - which included a bid for increased production to ease price pressures - was followed hours later on Tuesday by OPEC's decision to hold oil supply levels steady. 

The Prime Minister, who said APEC had lost its way before coming to Brunei, could now affirm that it was back on track.

But proof of APEC's sway in global affairs will have to wait until the WTO round is confirmed. The last APEC meeting in Auckland called for the abolition of agricultural subsidies at the Seattle WTO summit, only to see the talks collapse.

Thailand's Minister for Trade and the next head of the WTO, Mr Supachai Panitchpakdi, warned this week that setting a deadline for WTO talks might simply run the risk of further discredit for the trade group, and by extension APEC, if it were missed.

APEC in 1994 agreed to abolish all trade and investment barriers by 2010 for developed countries, and by 2020 for developing nations.

Progress through the WTO is vital to satisfy the APEC goals but scepticism about what can be achieved remains among many countries, and within APEC, despite yesterday's show of unity.

An indication of the stalled push for global trade liberalisation was the announcement by Australia at APEC of negotiations to complete a free trade pact with Singapore within a year, and the prospect of more bilateral deals in future.

Until this year, Australia had vigorously opposed bilateral trade agreements, arguing that they distracted from the all-important WTO push.

Much of the discussion at the Brunei summit has been about to the relevance of APEC. However, for many, the chance for leaders to hold a series of bilateral meetings on all kinds of topics is its main saving grace.