Terrorism, bird flu on top of APEC agenda

Terrorism, bird flu on top of APEC agenda
BUSAN, South Korea - Top officials from 21 Asia Pacific economies, who are meeting at Busan to prepare the agenda for the annual summit of leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation said that their leaders must take strong stands against terrorism and bird flu and must make an effort to revive the collapsed trade talks.

The APEC summit will have US President George W. Bush, China's Hu Jintao, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Japan's Junichiro Koizumi as guests and it is clear that the summit is definitely going to be a high-powered one.

The main issue before the APEC is the deadlocked talks over the agricultural subsidies and other issues within the World Trade Organization that has to be resolved before next month's scheduled meeting in Hong Kong. Unless these issues are settled, that meeting is set to be just another footnote in history.

More Info

Kim Jong-hoon, South Korea's senior official and chairman of the meeting stressed the importance of peacefully and urgently resolving the vexed matter, "It is important for them to deliver a strong political message. It's very important that they seek a breakthrough in this current deadlocked situation," he said.

The US president George W. Bush is to arrive in South Korea on Wednesday, one day before a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. He will arrive at Gimhae International Airport and will attend the 21 Asia-Pacific meeting on November 18 and 19.

Meanwhile, Australia's Prime Minister John Howard has urged the APEC leaders to reach a consensus on trade, "Trade is more valuable to the poor countries of the world than aid because trade opens up economic opportunities," he said on Saturday at the Queensland Liberal Party conference. He added that the US had made a good offer on agricultural issues and the Europe must respond to them.