Asia Pacific trade ministers said on Friday a new approach is needed to rescue decade-old world trade talks from failure as they firmed up some goals to reduce barriers to trade in the region. "All ministers agreed that we cannot simply keep doing what we have been doing in the Doha talks if we mean to move forward," US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said at the end of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) meeting.
"At the same time, not one minister said we should throw in the towel." The fate of the Doha round, which a former US trade representative recently pronounced "dead," dominated talks this week among the 21 Apec members, which together account for 54 percent of world output and 44 percent of world trade.
In a joint statement, the ministers acknowledged many currently "unbridgeable" gaps in the negotiations, echoing a phrase World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy used a few weeks ago to describe just the portion of the talks focused on manufactured goods.
"We share a strong concern about this state of affairs, and we must work together to develop a clear and realistic path forward that is consistent with our continuing aspiration for the successful conclusion of the round," they said. WTO members launched the Doha round of negotiations in the capital of Qatar in late 2001 with the goal of helping poor countries prosper through trade.
Since then, negotiators have struggled to reach consensus on formulas for cutting rich country farm subsidies and reducing tariffs on both agricultural and manufactured goods. Talks on how to salvage the 10 years of work put into the round will continue next week in Paris at a meeting of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development.
The United States and some other members would still like to see a "fairly ambitious market-opening agreement" cover agriculture, manufactured goods and services, Kirk said. But members are also discussing a much smaller and less commercially significant agreement focused primarily on "trade facilitation" - WTO jargon for reducing red tape around customs procedures so trade flows more efficiently.
Yu denied China's reluctance to further open its market was an obstacle to concluding the round. "China is the number two world economy now and is a major trading nation and we need Doha. Opening up is our basic national policy and we will never change that," Yu said.
In other areas, the trade ministers committed to explore ways to free up regional trade in environmental goods and services, following up on a pledge that Apec leaders made at their meeting last year in Japan. They directed Apec officials to develop a work plan for Apec leaders to announce in November at a summit in Honolulu hosted by President Barack Obama.
They also called for more work in other areas to ease trade in the region and bring Apec closer to its long-term goal of a regional free trade agreement covering all members. Nine Apec members, including the United States, pledged on Thursday to reach the broad outlines of a free trade deal by the November summit.
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