MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

APEC favours resumption of multilateral trade negotiations

Twenty one Asian and Pacific leaders ended this Tuesday a summit in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for increased measures against terrorism and agreed to support the resumption of trade talks in the framework of WTO, which collapsed last month in Mexico.

The complete dismantling of international terrorist organizations that threaten APEC economies was underlined as one of the priorities of the Asian-Pacific organization.

"We not only have to advance the prosperity of our economies but ensure the safety and security of our people", said the APEC leaders among which three from Latinamerica, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

However US President George Bush left the summit for an Asian tour without having been able to include North Korea and its nuclear ambitions in the final declaration.

US concerns about regional security were addressed by Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who said dialogue should include "all the concerns of the parties even the security concerns raised by North Korea".

But terrorism and security problems did not overshadow pending trade challenges and the failure of the recent Cancun talks following on the Doha round agenda.

"We've decided to reactivate the negotiations process and we recognize the urgent need for flexibility and political will to make negotiations advance towards a positive solution".

The 21 APEC member countries that represent over 50% of world trade mentioned agriculture one of the controversial issues that contributed to Cancun's failure.

In the final release APEC members express their willingness to work towards "the abolition of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and unfair bans and restrictions to exports".

The next APEC summit will be held in Chile in 2004.