ANDAR SERI BEGAWAN The more powerful Asia-Pacific nations have been forced to back down on demands for a new round of trade liberalization talks next year, according to a draft communique prepared by senior officials of the APEC economies.
The 24-page draft bows to the wishes of less developed Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members, referring to talks "at the earliest opportunity" but setting no timetable.
According to an AFP report, the document, being considered by APEC ministers ahead of a two-day leaders' summit starting on Wednesday, also tones down a previous blunt insistence on pushing for globalization.
It acknowledges instead a "need to work on confidence-building measures ... on market access for less developed economies." The draft agreement, drawn up after a senior officials' meeting on Friday, had removed all reference to talks in 2001, a senior official told AFP, quoting from the relevant clause 18 in the communique.
"It calls for a strong commitment to a new round of multilateral trade negotiations at the earliest opportunity and to work to build the global consensus necessary for this," the official said.
The senior officials had been unable to agree on the wording of the draft which was only completed in "subsequent consultation" with meeting Chairman Lim Jock Seng of Brunei at the close of Friday's official agenda.
The row over whether APEC should insist on a timetable for WTO talks or use the vaguely worded "earliest opportunity" has caused sharp divisions within the Pacific-rim alliance, which relies on consensus.
In the two-day ministerial meeting which opened Sunday, wealthy APEC economies led by the United States, Japan and Australia mounted a rear guard action to change the draft wording, pressuring the 21-member forum to insist on talks next year.
Thai Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, the next director general of the WTO, forecast problems if the free trade talks were delayed.
"It should not be later than 2001, because in 2002 there will be elections in Europe, and in the intervening years there might be backsliding," he said.
Meanwhile, Pacific rim foreign and trade ministers called on Sunday for an increase in oil supply, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer said.
"Despite the presence of a number of oil exporters in APEC ...
ministers agreed that volatile oil prices are not in the best interests of either consumers or producers and called for an increase in supply to meet current demand," Downer said in a statement.
"This agreement keeps diplomatic pressure up for lower world oil prices," he added.
APEC includes such key oil producers as Indonesia, Mexico and Brunei, major consumers like Japan and Korea, as well as huge countries like China and the United States which are both.
The leaders of all those countries are due to attend an APEC summit on Wednesday and Thursday which is expected to follow the ministers' recommendations on key issues.
Australia chairs APEC's energy working group.
Earlier on Sunday, Downer had told Reuters: "We think oil prices need to be a major focus of the APEC agenda this year." "If oil prices remain at what we believe are unsustainably (high) levels ... then that has the potential to stall the economic recovery in many of the East Asian economies," he said.
"The OPEC target of around $25-27 a barrel would be one that the economies of east Asia could more easily live with." APEC's call comes as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Sunday that OPEC would have to take care before considering another oil output increase, despite pressure from consumers.
Asia-Pacific leaders should forget about setting dates for a fresh round of global trade talks until they have an agenda, Reuter quoted Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz as saying.
Rafidah's comments contrasted sharply with those of U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky who told journalists she thought trade negotiations, under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, should begin in 2001.
Several other countries among the 21 attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in the tiny Islamic Sultanate of Brunei also favor a 2001 start.
But not Malaysia.
"They can jolly well say 2001, but they are kidding themselves," Rafidah told journalists on her arrival for talks with fellow ministers ahead of the APEC leaders' summit on November 15-16.
"Malaysia doesn't want to block anything, I'm just going to tell them the reality. Either they accept it or they are just kidding themselves," she said.
Some countries, particularly those like Malaysia which are still bruised in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, harbor reservations about the pace of globalization and about opening up their economies to trade and investment.