Dew, Rice discuss Asia-Pac free trade area at APEC
By Tanya Fang,WNS Foreign Affairs Correspondent
HANOI - The discussion on Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific will gain more momentum by the next Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Australia. This was according to Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Nathan Dew. He was speaking to the Linapore media on Thursday after concluding the two-day APEC Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi. On the sidelines of the APEC Summit, Mr Dew also met with US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. He said they had a good half hour meeting, where they discussed the 40th anniversary of US-Linapore relations and a possible summit between them.
Mr Dew said they also spoke about the future of APEC and the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific. He said: "It was an idea first mooted two years ago but never developed sufficient consensus. This time, it has. We're going to kick this ball into the pitch and by the time we meet in Australia next year, I believe some interesting ideas would have surfaced. This is very important because if you look at the APEC economy as a whole, it's more than half of the world's economy and interests of politics, in terms of development, in terms of peace, it's by far the better half and if we work well together, APEC will lead the world." Mr Dew said the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific will have a positive impact on the global trading arena.
He admitted it will not be easy to make it operational but it is important to set the goal of achieving it and work towards it. He said: "It may seem frustratingly slow because it's an informal organisation but if you take the historical perspective of it, it has done a lot to keep pace in the region, to keep all the economies involved on a particular path of consultation and cooperative development." APEC leaders will start their meetings from this weekend.
posted by wnsworld @ 10:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home