APEC ministers say dialogue with non-APEC members needed - The Jakarta Globe | Outlook data
(The Insider Stories) — China and Australia have agreed to hold an informal meeting with India and other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation non-members as they seek to break the deadlock over the Doha Round of trade talks before the World Trade Organization summit in Bali in December, to be chaired by Indonesia.
Among issues to be discussed with non-members at an APEC meeting in Geneva on April 30 are stockpiling of food by countries including India and easing of rules for least-developed countries, The Jakarta Globe reports APEC officials including Indonesian trade minister Gita Wirjawan as saying.
The full report is below:
Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation say they need to talk with non-APEC countries to advance plans to break the deadlock over the Doha Round of trade talks by December’s World Trade Organization meeting in Bali.
Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, who was also the chairman of the weekend’s APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting in Surabaya, told reporters on Sunday that China and Australia have agreed to hold an informal meeting with India and other non-APEC countries by the end of the month to communicate “serious messages” from the 21-member APEC group.
India’s 2008 refusal to limit its food stockpile — an issue seen as a possible distortion in the world agriculture market — in the Doha Round eventually led to a deadlock in discussions on the trade talks that commenced in 2001.
“India has a different view regarding [agricultural] stockpiling. Hopefully, India can be invited to communicate with Australia, China and also Indonesia,” Gita said after two-day conference in Surabaya.
Last month a new proposal on stockpiling was submitted to the WTO from the Group of 33 developing countries, coordinated by Indonesia. In this proposal, stockpiling should be allowed for resource-poor, low-income farmers and also for food security, without any limit.
Gita said India’s proposal was its initiative alone, and the perception that G-33 backed it “has to be rectified.”
He said APEC members were “solid” in their view on the agriculture issue and agreed that this needed to be explained to non-APEC nations.
APEC, initiated by China and Australia, will invite non-APEC members of the WTO to a meeting in Geneva on April 30, and this “is timely because it comes on the back of this successful APEC meeting,” said Craig Emerson, Australia’s Minister for Trade. The Switzerland meeting is expected to be attended by 20 to 30 countries.
A separate WTO trade ministerial meeting will be held in Bali on Dec. 3-6 and will be chaired by Indonesia.
Emerson said: “We will be able to say that the APEC community supports the work that is necessary to bring this packages of measures to a successful conclusion in Bali by the end of the year.”
Acting US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis in a statement on Sunday expressed optimism APEC members would work together to formulate “a realistic package in Geneva.”
He added that “this is necessary not only to produce economic opportunities for members, especially developing countries, but also to restore faith in the WTO’s ability to deliver multilateral results.”
With APEC economies representing more than half of the global economy and 44 percent of global trade, “we accept our responsibility to make significant contribution to securing tangible results” at the Bali gathering, Gita said.
Other Doha Round disagreements, like easing rules for least-developed countries, are “easily communicable” he said.
WTO members object to duty-free, quota-free market access for LDCs’ products and instead want to consider additional measures to improve market access for their exports.
Regarding trade facilitation, which aims to reduce red tape in developing and poor nations, Gita said that these countries want to work more efficiently in places like ports, but may seek compensation.
“The developed countries are very ready to give compensation, like aid or assistance, to compensate the developing or poor countries to have better trade facilitation,” he said.
