LEAD: APEC begins with weeklong talks focused on WTO, bird flu

BUSAN, Korea, Nov. 12 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING INFO)

The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum kicked off its annual week of high-level talks Saturday, with focus on support for troubled global trade-opening negotiations and ways to tackle avian influenza.

Senior officials from the Pacific Rim economies began a two-day preparatory meeting in the South Korean port city of Busan to coordinate views on major issues ahead of foreign and trade ministerial talks scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday and a two-day summit meeting to held from next Friday.

Topping the agenda in high-level APEC talks will be how to push forward the deadlocked negotiations of the World Trade Organization in the run-up to a crucial ministerial meeting scheduled for Dec. 13-18 in Hong Kong, according to Japanese officials.

Whether the 21 economies, which account for about 47 percent of world trade, can offer positive input for the WTO talks is crucial, as pessimism has been growing among members that they may not be able reach an accord with specific numerical goals in Hong Kong.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, who is scheduled to speak at the APEC ministerial meeting Tuesday morning, told ambassadors from member economies Thursday in Geneva that he has given up on the goal of achieving a detailed accord at the Hong Kong meeting.

At Saturday's session of the senior officials' meeting, delegates insisted that expectations for a WTO accord should not be lowered, negotiation sources said.

The delegates also said they should try to ''save'' the Hong Kong meeting from foundering, according to the sources.

A U.S. official said ambassadors of APEC economies to Geneva have held talks on what kind of statement their leaders should issue and that some of them are heading to Busan to take part in the high-level meetings.

A Japanese official said APEC leaders are expected to issue an independent statement on the regional body's contribution to the WTO negotiations at the end of their meeting on Nov. 19.

Sharp differences between industrialized and developing countries as well as food exporters and importers have bogged down the current WTO Doha Round of trade liberalization talks. A success in Hong Kong is necessary to meet the end-of-2006 deadline for the conclusion of the Doha Round, which was launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital.

The APEC economies are also expected to devise a regional response to a potential bird flu pandemic, with more than 10 countries led by the United States proposing an initiative to promote early warning and detection of the disease, the sources said.

The number of deaths from the disease has been rising in Asia and the spread of a new type of human influenza is feared.

The 21 members will also address energy security concerns amid recent increases in crude oil prices. They will talk about strengthening energy conservation efforts, improvement of oil refinery capacity, development of alternative energy sources and boosting oil stockpiles, the officials said.

The forum is expected to issue anti-piracy guidelines, under which not only imports, but also exports and transshipping of counterfeit and illegally copied goods will be seized, according to the officials.

The rules will also target online piracy, and exhibitors of illegally copied goods on Internet auction will be identified as a way to curb trading of pirated items, the negotiation sources said.

Among other issues, the APEC economies will conduct a midterm review of the nonbinding Bogor Goals, which call on developed members to aim to achieve free and open trade and investment by 2010, with developing economies by 2020.

The Busan meeting is expected to produce a road map for the goals adopted in Bogor, Indonesia in 1994, with emphasis not only on cross-border trade barrier reductions but also on structural reforms in each economy and intellectual property rights protection, the officials said.

The road map will reflect Japan's claim that ''behind-the-border'' issues, or domestic measures, will be important as well to facilitate investment and services trade, the sources said.

The forum will also adopt a model clause for trade facilitation measures at customs in free trade agreements, following an agreement reached last year by APEC leaders on FTA best practices, they said.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is scheduled to attend the summit, while Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai will take part in the ministerial meeting.

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

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