MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

APEC Lima summit pledges open markets and free trade

The 21 economies, which represent almost two thirds of the world's GDP pledged during a two-day summit in Lima, Peru not to erect new protectionist barriers for the next year, and to re-launch stalled World Trade Organization talks.

The main accomplishment of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC forum was a widening of support for the Washington Declaration made last weekend by major economies that pledged to maintain free trade despite pressures to protect domestic industries. "We are convinced that we can overcome this crisis in a period of 18 months," the leaders said on Sunday. "We have already taken urgent and extraordinary steps to stabilize our financial sectors and strengthen economic growth." The reassuring words were added to a declaration the leaders had signed off on the Saturday. Delegates from several countries said the changes were made overnight at the request of the summit's host, Peruvian President Alan García. "We have agreed that this meeting produce a clear and firm statement that breaks the vicious cycle of anguish and uncertainty," García said on Sunday. "We â€" united as the world's peoples, governments and businesses â€" are going to beat the crisis". The 18-month timeline fits with a calculation by the International Monetary Fund, which forecast developed economies would grow barely 0.1% in 2009, and that the world would emerge from the crisis the following year. But some delegates and analysts were sceptical that the timetable was much more than wishful thinking, and some leaders distanced themselves from the language. Mexican President Felipe Calderón described the date as more of an estimate than a prediction. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper went a step further. "I think it would be speculative to commit to that kind of timeline," he said. Harper said he expects Canada to officially enter recession by the New Year and is studying a financial stimulus package. "If it is necessary for there to be government spending to bolster domestic consumption and stimulate investment markets, we will undertake those measures," he said. And Dan Price, an aide to George W. Bush, said the US president thinks the global economy can be fixed even faster. "That particular sentence was added by the president of Peru as the chair," Price said aboard Air Force One. "Certainly, some in the region may think that recovery may take 18 months. President Bush believes that the actions we are taking now will begin to produce results in the much nearer term." Vinod Aggarwal, director of the APEC Study Center at the University of California-Berkeley, said the timeline was useful in sending a signal to markets. "I don't think it will make that much difference, but I don't think it hurts," he said. More important, he said, was the leaders' agreement to send ministers to Geneva next month to instrument a breakthrough in the so-called Doha round of World Trade Organization talks. Concern over the global financial crisis has injected new urgency into the negotiations, which collapsed in July. Among the participants leaders at the Lima were President George Bush; China's Hu Jintao; Japan's Taro Aso; Russia's Dmitry Medvedev; Canadian PM Stephen Harper; Australia's Kevin Rudd; Chile's Michelle Bachelet; Mexico's Felipe Calderón, etc.