APEC ministers to agree on anti-protectionism: Report

TOKYO: Ministers of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum this week are likely to agree on banning fresh protectionist measures to safeguard the world economy, a report said on Monday.

In a two-day ministerial meeting ahead of the APEC summit this weekend, they are expected to agree on not taking fresh anti-protectionist measures in the coming three years to 2013, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported, without citing its sources.

The ban on protectionist measures, which APEC member China will also agree to, will include a ban on blocking exports after Beijing recently blocked Japan-bound exports of rare earth minerals amid Sino-Japanese territorial disputes, it said.

APEC ministers are also likely to agree on simplifying cross-border trade procedures by introducing integrated circuit tags for freight, NHK reported.

The ministers' joint statement, to be announced by Japanese foreign and trade ministers on Thursday, will include these agreements, it said.

In the talks starting Wednesday in Yokohama, ministers are due to discuss growth strategy and a path towards regional economic integration, including the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade talks that are backed by the United States.

APEC finance ministers on Saturday pledged to work towards safeguarding growth and to avoid weakening each other's currencies, as the US sought to ease tensions over recent economic proposals.

China rejected a US proposal that countries assign a quantifiable limit for their current account surpluses or deficits to help rebalance the global economy and ease trade tensions.

While the finance chiefs agreed to curtail "excessive" trade imbalances, many Asian governments are anxious about being squeezed if the United States turns inward and China grows even more assertive.