APEC concern at threat from Europe debt crisis
Source: Agencies |
November 14, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Asia-Pacific leaders are to call on countries to do what they can to prop up economic growth, rallying around the common threat from Europe's debt crisis despite divisions over trade and currency policies.
Fresh off a rare success in securing agreement on the outlines of a regional trade deal, the heads of the 21 nations that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum were turning their attention to the more immediate problem of preventing contagion from Europe.
After talks yesterday, leaders were expected to release a statement expressing concern that Europe's unresolved debt troubles will spill over into the Asia-Pacific region.
"We're not going to see massive growth out of Europe until the problems are solved," US President Barack Obama said. "And that will have a dampening effect on the economy. But if we can at least contain the crisis, then one of the great opportunities we have is to see the Asia-Pacific region as an extraordinary engine for growth."
A further step toward a US-backed free trade bloc handed the Asia-Pacific leaders a rare achievement from their annual summit in Hawaii.
Asia's increasingly vital role as a driver of global growth has added urgency to the campaign to remove barriers and bottlenecks that slow trade and business - the original mission of the APEC forum, whose 21 members join economies huge and tiny, rich and poor.
Obama, flanked by leaders of eight other nations involved in negotiations on setting up the trading bloc, said he was optimistic the trade pact dubbed the Trans-Pacific Partnership could draft a legal framework by next year.
"It is an ambitious goal, but we are optimistic that we can get it done," he said.
The so-called TPP is billed as a building block for eventually forging a free trade zone that encompasses all of Asia and the Pacific. It now includes only Chile, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore - but the US, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru are negotiating to join, and Japan said it hopes to as well.
China, which some economists say is on course to overtake the US as the world's biggest economy this decade, has appeared unenthusiastic about the Pacific trade pact, describing the plan as "overly ambitious."
China also has commitments to rival free trade blocs in East and Southeast Asia.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, in a speech to corporate bosses meeting alongside the summit on Saturday, expressed support for existing trade arrangements and for "achieving economic integration in the Asia-Pacific."
Hu told the business leaders he favours pursuing more open trade through bodies such as the World Trade Organization, saying "we should uphold the multilateral trading regime and deepen regional integration."
With Europe edging toward a recession, fast-growing Asia - led by China - is vital to sustaining global economic growth.
But that engine is slowing and inflation-wary Asian leaders don't necessarily want to rev it back up. China is reluctant to unleash another huge stimulus package like the one it launched in 2009 because of concern over wasteful spending.
China's economic growth will likely dip below 9 percent next year for the first time in a decade. That would still be four times faster than the US economy is likely to grow.
Fresh off a rare success in securing agreement on the outlines of a regional trade deal, the heads of the 21 nations that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum were turning their attention to the more immediate problem of preventing contagion from Europe.
After talks yesterday, leaders were expected to release a statement expressing concern that Europe's unresolved debt troubles will spill over into the Asia-Pacific region.
"We're not going to see massive growth out of Europe until the problems are solved," US President Barack Obama said. "And that will have a dampening effect on the economy. But if we can at least contain the crisis, then one of the great opportunities we have is to see the Asia-Pacific region as an extraordinary engine for growth."
A further step toward a US-backed free trade bloc handed the Asia-Pacific leaders a rare achievement from their annual summit in Hawaii.
Asia's increasingly vital role as a driver of global growth has added urgency to the campaign to remove barriers and bottlenecks that slow trade and business - the original mission of the APEC forum, whose 21 members join economies huge and tiny, rich and poor.
Obama, flanked by leaders of eight other nations involved in negotiations on setting up the trading bloc, said he was optimistic the trade pact dubbed the Trans-Pacific Partnership could draft a legal framework by next year.
"It is an ambitious goal, but we are optimistic that we can get it done," he said.
The so-called TPP is billed as a building block for eventually forging a free trade zone that encompasses all of Asia and the Pacific. It now includes only Chile, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore - but the US, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru are negotiating to join, and Japan said it hopes to as well.
China, which some economists say is on course to overtake the US as the world's biggest economy this decade, has appeared unenthusiastic about the Pacific trade pact, describing the plan as "overly ambitious."
China also has commitments to rival free trade blocs in East and Southeast Asia.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, in a speech to corporate bosses meeting alongside the summit on Saturday, expressed support for existing trade arrangements and for "achieving economic integration in the Asia-Pacific."
Hu told the business leaders he favours pursuing more open trade through bodies such as the World Trade Organization, saying "we should uphold the multilateral trading regime and deepen regional integration."
With Europe edging toward a recession, fast-growing Asia - led by China - is vital to sustaining global economic growth.
But that engine is slowing and inflation-wary Asian leaders don't necessarily want to rev it back up. China is reluctant to unleash another huge stimulus package like the one it launched in 2009 because of concern over wasteful spending.
China's economic growth will likely dip below 9 percent next year for the first time in a decade. That would still be four times faster than the US economy is likely to grow.
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