APEC leaders vow to unlock WTO trade talks next month

LIMA: In a strong political message to revive the Doha Round, 21 Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday pledged that they were "committed" to make a breakthrough next month in the long-running free trade talks under the WTO to counter the impact of the deepening global economic crisis.

"We are committed to reach agreement on modalities next month on the basis of progress made to date" on the stalled WTO negotiations, the leaders said in a special statement, released after the first-day session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit here in the Peruvian capital.

"We and our ministers are intensifying our engagement with World Trade Organisation counterparts to create the convergence necessary to achieve this outcome," it said.

In a rare move, Peru, the chair of the summit, revised the statement to further strengthen the message on the WTO negotiations, which was made available about 12 hours after the initial release, Kyodo news agency reported.

The revised statement added a phrase saying that the leaders "direct our ministers to meet in Geneva in December" to achieve the target.

The revised version also said, "We are convinced that we can overcome this crisis in a period of 18 months," referring
to the deepening global financial crisis.

It did not give a reason as to why they are convinced. A Japanese senior official said he has not been told why the period 18 months is specified.

The APEC leaders decided to use the word "commit" to signal their full determination to strike an outline deal by the year's end on key trade terms for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round of trade talks, senior officials said.