Asia-Pacific economies to caution against protectionism+

LIMA, Nov. 17 Kyodo - Asia-Pacific economies will be ready to form a joint front against all forms of protectionism when their leaders, ministers and hundreds of business executives gather later this week in Peru.

The 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will
warn that the implementation of protectionist measures will not be tolerated
even if the world is staggering under the weight of the worst financial crisis
since the Great Depression, senior officials said.
With the dangers of a full-scale world recession mounting, the economies are
preparing to release a special statement on the issue at a two-day summit
starting Saturday in Lima, said the officials who are in charge of drafting the
statement.
As of Sunday, the wording of the document had not yet been finalized, but the
Pacific Rim economies, including China, Japan, Peru, Russia and the United
States, will one way or another renew their resolve to facilitate trade and
investment flows, the officials said.
In both ministerial and leaders' statements, as well as very likely in the
standalone document, the 21 economies, which account for about 60 percent of
the world's gross domestic product, will express strong support for a prompt
and successful conclusion of the Doha Round of free trade talks under the World
Trade Organization, the officials said.
They are set to agree on the need to find a breakthrough in the deadlocked
negotiations by year-end, as the leaders of the world's most powerful economies
and emerging heavyweights did Saturday at the Group of 20 financial summit
meeting in Washington, according to the officials attending the final drafting
session in the Peruvian capital.
The officials are now discussing whether to use a stronger expression in their
final drafts than the one adopted by the G-20 leaders.
The draft ministerial and leaders' statements circulated to member economies
just ahead of the G-20 summit stopped short of specifying the next step to be
taken to reach an outline deal on key figures for tariff cuts to achieve a
successful conclusion to the Doha Round.
The draft statements, copies of which were obtained Sunday by Kyodo News on
condition that they not be directly quoted, did not contain an expression, for
example, regarding when trade ministers should meet again in Geneva or
elsewhere.
Prior to the 16th APEC summit, trade and foreign ministers of the economies
will meet for their annual gathering also in Lima on Wednesday and Thursday.
This year, the APEC forum will serve as a follow-up to discussions at the G-20
financial summit in Washington.
As about half of the APEC economies were not present at the two-day G-20 summit
ended Saturday, a fair amount of time will be spent on deepening understanding
of how the international community should find a way out of the crisis.
They will exchange views on how to prevent a recurrence of the financial
crisis, including issues relating to regulation of capital markets and rating
agencies.
But unlike the G-20 summit, which strongly focused on macroeconomic policies,
the officials said the APEC economies will pay more attention to how to prevent
the troubles in the financial sector from spilling over into the real economy.
In this regard, Japanese trade minister Toshihiro Nikai is planning to call for
concerted efforts by the member economies to stimulate domestic demand and to
strengthen the financing of trade and smaller firms, Japanese officials said.
Other major issues to be discussed in Lima include the promotion of regional
economic integration, such as in the form of a Free Trade Area of the
Asia-Pacific, which is currently being examined, food and energy security, APEC
institutional reform and corporate social responsibility.
The Pacific Rim economies may agree to carry out more substantive discussions
in the coming years on the idea of an APEC Food System strongly advocated by
the United States, the draft statements showed.
The United States and some other member economies believe that establishment of
the system could help to mitigate the impact of escalating food prices through
the sharing of best practices in such fields as food transport and storage, and
agricultural innovation.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and
Vietnam.
From Japan, Prime Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Nikai are scheduled to attend the forum,
which will be hosted by Peru for the first time.