APEC economies try to step up pace for world trade deal

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2004

SANTIAGO (AFP) — Asia-Pacific economies stepped up the pace for a new global trade pact by calling for an interim ministerial meeting before key World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong in December 2005.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick suggested that a WTO "mini ministerial" meeting be held possibly around the middle of next year to thrash out outstanding issues and ensure an agreement was achieved over the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks.

The current round of world trade talks was launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 aimed at a binding international treaty among 148 WTO nations, but disagreements over how to proceed in key areas such as agriculture have bogged down negotiations.

Trade ministers of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic...