Asia-Pacific leaders debate prickly globalisation issue

Asia-Pacific leaders debated the prickly issue of globalisation Monday amid growing economic and cultural divisions, with demands for global rules to be rewritten to aim for balanced growth.

Calling for a new agenda for global trade talks, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the rules of the game should be changed to reflect the interests of developing countries.

He said the developing economies were not yet ready to compete on an equal footing with the industrialised nationsa.

"Developing economies want fair trade rather than free trade," said Mahathir, making his farewell appearance at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum that began in Bangkok.

Mahathir and other leaders were speaking at a high-level business forum of Apec, a grouping of 21 economies of both developed and developing nations which make up around half the world's gross domestic product.

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos described globalisation as both an opportunity and challenge but lamented that the world's political, trade and environment rules had not kept pace with reality.

There was a "disconnect" between the rules of multilateralism and globalisation itself, he said while emphasising the need first for social cohesion in countries to get "their own houses in order."

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark told the forum that globalisation was an "unstoppable force" and nations had to adapt to it.

Mahathir, who has stoutly championed the rights of developing countries during his 22-year rule, said the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks aimed at framing new global trade rules stalled in the Mexican city of Cancun last month because the agenda favoured rich nations.

The Cancun talks on the Doha Development Agenda collapsed after bickering between developed and developing countries on market access, farming subsidies and tariff structures.

"The stress should be on fair trade rather than free trade. Fair trade can be free but free trade can be unfair," Mahathir said.

The Malaysian leader expressed worry that giant corporations from the rich countries would gobble up small and weak companies in developing economies if free trade was allowed.

"We are ready to be exploited but (we) must be fairly exploited," Mahathir said, drawing laughter from the audience.

Clark opposed Mahathir's call for the WTO talks to begin on a completely new slate.

"I think there will be utter despair if there is a strong view coming from the developing countries that we have to start from a completely clean sheet of paper post-Cancun," said the leader of the small but developed New Zealand. She also expressed concern over a growing cultural and economic divisions.