KUALA LUMPUR Asia Pacific leaders meeting in Brunei next week are expected to declare their support for a new round of global free trade talks.
Globalization, rising oil prices, regional free trade arrangements and liberalization of E-commerce services are some of the issues on the agenda when the leaders of the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members meet.
And such caution about commitments may be typical of the November 15-16 APEC meeting in Brunei, expected to draw U.S. President Bill Clinton, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin among others.
In all those areas agreement on broad principles may be easier to reach than consensus on concrete policy steps considering APEC's diversified membership, which stretches geographically from Russia to Chile and economically from Third World Papua New Guinea to Japan and the United States.
APEC members account for 60 percent of global Gross Domestic Product and 45 percent of world trade.
Many are still recovering from the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s and several, like Malaysia, are wary of the risks posed by globalization, so APEC is unlikely to move too fast on free trade.
"It will be a sort of a symbolic declaration. But I don't think they will agree on the specifics to be included in the new round," Kyung Tae Lee of South Korea, the incoming chairman of APEC's Economic Committee said in Brunei.
WTO members failed to launch a new global liberalization round in Seattle last December amid a backlash of violent protests.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has pledged to talk about the adverse impact of liberalization on poorer nations.
"Many (developing countries) are worried about effects of globalization ... whether it is good or bad for developing countries.
It may be good for them (developed countries) but bad for us," Mahathir said last week.
Malaysia has asked ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) members for more time to lower tariffs on cars, a move that angered Thailand, which harbors grand plans for its auto industry.
Mahathir will not be the only leader at the meeting less than totally enthusiastic about rapid liberalization.
The immediate problem of volatile crude oil prices threatens to steal some of the limelight even as the leaders lock horns on longer term issues like trade liberalization.
APEC is expected to attempt to work out measures to reduce vulnerability to rising oil prices which threatens to blunt recovery in many Asian economies, officials said.
Some APEC members such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and Russia are big oil producers and stand to gain from the recent surge in prices to their highest level in 10 years.
Last week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries implemented its fourth output increase this year to curb surging oil prices, a move in line with its price band mechanism which adjusts the group's oil supplies to keep prices between 22 U.S.
dollars and 28 U.S. dollars a barrel.
APEC's energy working group has recommended cooperation among members to promote alternative energy sources and oil security.
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.
(IRNA)