Political woes may stop PNG ministers from going to APEC

Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea Post-Courier/PINA Nius Online) – Political problems and the 2001 budget may force Papua New Guinea to send only senior officials to the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, being held in Brunei, sources said.

The meeting is normally preceded by a senior officials meeting, which sets the agenda for the heads of states summit.

Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta attended the annual meeting in New Zealand last year where he also announced the formation of the friends of PGN’s group, which had been instrumental in helping PNG’s economic recovery efforts.

Meanwhile, economic and trade ministers from Pacific Rim nations struggled for a compromise over when and how new world trade talks should be launched.

The APEC forum was divided over whether to urge a new round of World Trade Organization talks for 2001 a date that might not be met and could undermine the group’s credibility or to issue a more vague call for a meeting sometime soon.

The future leader of the WTO shifted his previous stance favoring a round in 2001 and said yesterday that he has urged the ministers to avoid a deadline that might be missed due to deep acrimony over trade issues.

“I have suggested that maybe we should not target a date,” said Thai Trade Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, who will take over as head of the WTO in 2002. Ultimately, it is possible that a date might be avoided.

The ministers were in the final day of preparing a common declaration that would be used as the basis for a summit of APEC’s national leaders starting tomorrow. It will be Bill Clinton’s last as US president.

The 21 APEC economies represent more than half the world’s output, but the trade grouping has been criticized as being too unwieldy and slow at meeting voluntary goals of creating a free-trade zone by 2020.

The members generally agree that new WTO talks should be held, but Malaysia has spearheaded demands from poor nations that the Geneva-based organization first set an agenda that takes into account the interests of poor countries.

Developing nations have been infuriated by demands from wealthy Western trading nations that environmental protection and labor standards be discussed by the WTO, saying this would harm the Third World’s ability to compete globally with two of its main assets: natural resources and cheap labor.

The United States and Australia are among those wanting a new round of negotiations to begin in 2001. APEC can do no more than urge the WTO to start more talks, but Australia signaled that APEC, which works by consensus, would find a formula to call for a new round that every country could accept.

I think an appropriate compromise will be struck here and that ultimately it will be a matter for the leaders, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

There’s not going to be a new round until you work through how to build up an agenda.

Mr. Supachai is due to take the helm of the WTO for a three-year term beginning in 2002, succeeding New Zealand’s Mike Moore, whose stewardship began in ignominy in Seattle a year ago.

The street protests there against the WTO’s free-trade agenda, coupled with disputes between the US and European Union and between wealthy and poor nations, sank the bid to launch a new round of trade talks that would have defined the global economy in the information age.