PUCON, Chile, June 6 (UPI) -- The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Pucon, Chile, has urged the World Trade Organization to reach agreement on trade liberalization.
All WTO members should "intensify their efforts in coming weeks to agree by July 2004 on the key issues that will provide a clear way forward for the Doha negotiations," said a statement by the trade ministers from the 21 member economies of the APEC.
APEC has a strong desire to see the stalled WTO talks make headway as soon as possible, reported the Kyodo News Service.
"We have written a special declaration, focusing on the Doha Development Agenda negotiations, at the presence of WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi here in Pucon," said Chilean Foreign Minister Maria Soledad Alvear, chairman of the APEC meeting.
Agriculture, the key export industry for many poor countries, is the cornerstone of WTO goals under the Doha round of talks held at Doha, Qatar, in late 2001. WTO members have been divided over key trade issues, mainly farm trade.
