APEC Business Leaders call for immediate action on Doha Round

Business Leaders from the Asia-Pacific region have today called on APEC Leaders to renew their commitment to the successful completion of the Doha Round during their up-coming meeting in Hanoi, Viet Nam.

The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) has just completed three days of discussions around facilitating and promoting trade, investment and economic growth in the region.

"ABAC is the most significant meeting of the region?s business community and this weekend's APEC meeting is the first of world leaders since the recent collapse of trade talks," said 2006 ABAC Chair, Hoang Van Dung.

"ABAC has been proactive in pushing for a resumption of the Doha Round. In September representatives of the region's business community met with UNICE (Confederation of European Business) and the World Trade Organization to promote the importance of freeing-up world trade to the Asia Pacific.

"The address yesterday to ABAC by the World Trade Organization Director-General, Pascal Lamy, on the status of the Doha Round and the consequences of its failure was of deep concern to our business council.

"The success of the multilateral round is vital to all APEC economies and the world and our meeting with the APEC Leaders allows us the opportunity to stress this issue.

"The benefits of liberalized trade and investment regimes are well known. By lowering tariffs, opening goods and services markets, addressing non-tariff barriers and promoting trade facilitation the Doha Round has the potential to raise the standards of living in all APEC economies.

"We are deeply committed to the multilateral round, but should it reach an impasse, our concept of a Free Trade Area Asia Pacific (FTAAP) will be studied and developed further, out of necessity.

"The APEC meeting provides a time for action by our leaders, who should ensure a return to the negotiating table at the WTO level, as a matter of priority," Hoang Van Dung said.