Australia, N.Z. may propose rules for FTA at APEC forum

Asian Economic News, Nov 13, 2000

TOKYO, Nov. 10 Kyodo

Australia and New Zealand may propose rules to govern bilateral free trade agreements within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum during the upcoming ministerial meeting of the regional group, International Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma said Friday.

''In such a case, we will explain in detail'' that Japan's free trade agreement with Singapore will not hinder efforts for free trade within APEC as it is aimed at backing up the World Trade Organization (WTO), Hiranuma said at a press conference.

Australia and New Zealand may also call for promotion of agricultural trade within APEC, Hiranuma said.

Trade and foreign ministers of the 21-member APEC forum will gather for their annual meeting in Brunei on Sunday and Monday.

Formed in 1989, APEC consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

 

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Please add your comment:

  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  2.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

advertisement
Click Here
advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement

Content provided in partnership with Thompson Gale