By Li Hongmei
Leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum wrapped up their annual summit yesterday with a pledge to protect security of food, energy and water from threats posed by climate change and population growth.
Also, they have vowed to cooperate on stabilizing a global economic recovery threatened by a scarcity of resources and bottlenecks to growth.
"As our region increasingly becomes the main engine of global growth, we are called by the duty to look ahead, to adapt to our changing needs, and to reinvigorate the path toward progress in the Asia-Pacific," the group said in its declaration.
The leaders agreed to fight against protectionist and trade-distorting measures for their impact on weakening trade and slowing down the global economic recovery while recognizing the Doha round of multilateral trade talks is at an impasse.
Regarding the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization to be held in Bali in December, the leaders acknowledged the urgency to achieve successful outcomes which would be a stepping stone to future progress in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations post-Bali and further multilateral trade liberalization.
"We reaffirm our commitment to build on the Bali Package to achieve the full conclusion of the DDA and to continue the negotiations to address the remaining DDA issues post-Bali and continue to respect the Doha mandate and its development dimension," the declaration said.
The leaders envisioned that the Bali outcomes will encompass an agreement on trade facilitation, some elements of agriculture, and development.
They also pledged cooperation on improving infrastructure such as roads, bridges and ports to make the region seamless for commerce.
Also yesterday, leaders of the dozen countries involved in US-led free trade negotiations called the Trans-Pacific Partnership issued a statement saying they are on track to agree on a comprehensive deal before the year's end.
"It's an ambitious goal," said US Trade Representative Michael Froman. "Ultimately the substance will drive the timetable. We're not going to agree to a bad deal for just the sake of meeting a deadline. But there's a lot of momentum."
Soured ties between China and Japan bubbled beneath the surface of the summit after Beijing was announced as the host of next year's meeting, putting renewed focus on the testy relationship between the two Asian countries.
The summit, held this year on the Indonesia resort island of Bali, gave regional leaders a chance to talk through issues in formal and informal settings. The grouping of nations and territories includes more than 3 billion people and more than half of the world economy, ranging from tiny Brunei to powerhouses such as China, Japan and the US.
"The close collaboration will result in a win-win situation, especially at a time when the world economy has yet to fully recover," said Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in concluding the summit.
But the meetings did not result in any progress on a stalemate between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
China will host APEC's annual summit next year and many preliminary meetings before that.
The 2014 APEC economic leaders' meeting will be held at Yanqi Lake, 50 kilometers northeast of downtown Beijing. Currently one international convention center, one boutique hotel and 12 VIP villas are under construction, and they are expected to be put into operation by the end of this year.
