Apec economies try to step up pace for world trade deal

Asia-Pacific economies stepped up the pace Wednesday for a new global trade pact by calling for an interim ministerial meeting before key World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong in December 2005.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick suggested that a WTO "mini ministerial" meeting be held possibly around the middle of next year to thrash out outstanding issues and ensure an agreement was achieved over the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks.

The current round of world trade talks was launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 aimed at a binding international treaty among 148 WTO nations, but disagreements over how to proceed in key areas such as agriculture have bogged down negotiations.

Trade ministers of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum meeting in Santiago Wednesday agreed with the US proposal that the interim ministerial meeting be held to set a rapid pace for clinching the Doha goal in Hong Kong, Thailand's deputy commerce minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.

"We agreed with the USTR that the next ministerial meeting in December is too far away and we need to have a mini ministerial meeting before that so that we can keep things in order and putting everything in one basket," he told AFP.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said she supported the US proposal and expressed optimism an agreement could be reached in Hong Kong if there was "less political hedging."

"Some major Apec economies themselves have been stumbling blocs in the WTO," she noted, without naming them.

But analysts say support from both the United States and the European Union, the world's two economic giants, for the Doha round was vital if WTO member states is to build on the success reached in summer when a partial deal was struck.