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November 13, 2000 

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) — Before setting a date for the next round of global trade talks, economic and foreign ministers from several Pacific Rim nations are urging the world's wealthier countries to give up their demands that environmental and labor standards be part of the negotiations.

Government leaders from 21 nations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum were in agreement Monday that the World Trade Organization should meet again soon. But they remained divided on whether to set a deadline of next year.

The United States and Australia were among those wanting a new round of WTO negotiations to begin by 2001. Malaysia balked at letting the APEC forum seek a deadline, saying there are too many issues to be resolved before the world trade liberalization talks could get going.

``If you want to have a new round, you must have an agenda to discuss — upon which the new round is prepared,'' Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said Sunday. ``But now there is no agenda. So what I am saying is instead of pressing for a new round, press for a date to resolve an agenda.''

An official statement regarding future WTO talks was expected late Monday when the nations' ministers conclude two days of negotiations. That statement will form the basis of meetings Wednesday and Thursday between their national leaders. The meetings will be the last attended by one of the group's biggest supporters, President Clinton.

Indonesia's minister of industry and trade, Luhut Panjaitan, said the new World Trade Organization talks should start next year. But like many poorer countries, Indonesia is angered by Western demands to put environmental and labor issues on the table — a key sticking point when WTO talks collapsed last year in Seattle.

``They are not part of the WTO agenda,'' Luhut said. ``First of all we set up the agenda, then we do the new round.''

Others worried that if a deadline were set and missed, ``it would be like a repeat of the Seattle failure,'' a senior Japanese official said, speaking on condition of anonymity and declining to identify the nations worried about such a potential failure.

APEC economic and foreign ministers circulated a draft communique that urged the WTO to launch new talks by 2001, said Kobsak Chutikul, director general of economic affairs with Thailand's Foreign Ministry.

But a later draft of the communique deleted the target deadline to say only that the talks should begin at the earliest opportunity, he told The Associated Press.

Amid suggestions that Malaysia is the key holdout on setting a deadline, Rafidah said Malaysia was speaking forcefully on behalf of many developing countries who cannot understand why rich economies want to start a new WTO talks without any agenda.

``We have been the loudest voice in saying the right things,'' Rafidah told reporters.

The summit comes at a time of turbulence on both sides of the Pacific, with last week's U.S. election still undecided, Canada voting Nov. 27, the leaders of Taiwan and the Philippines facing calls for their impeachment, and leaders from Peru, Indonesia and Japan all under fire.

APEC leaders are expected to issue a declaration on the slackening pace of economic reforms in Asian economies struck by crisis in 1997-98, on high oil prices and the threat posed to regional growth, and on spreading the benefits of the information age to all APEC countries.

They also are expected to urge the rapid launch of new WTO trade talks following the breakdown of the last attempt in Seattle in 1999 amid street protests and acrimony between rich and poor nations.

Developing countries are furious at suggestions from rich nations — notably the United States and countries in the European Union — that environmental and labor standards become part of trade negotiations, saying that would prevent the use of their main advantages, including cheap labor, that now let them compete in the global economy.

In an interview, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, who will become the WTO leader in 2002, called for new talks by next year.

``We cannot wait any more time because if you waste time the process is seen as less credible than before,'' he said.

APEC comprises the United States, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.