APEC leaders pledge political will, flexibility to advance global trade talks
The Associated PressPublished: September 9, 2007
SYDNEY, Australia: Pacific Rim leaders pledged their political will and flexibility to bring faltering global trade talks into their final phase this year, and called on trading partners to join in the effort, according to a special statement on the issue released Sunday at the end of their weekend summit.
"There has never been a more urgent need to make progress" in the talks, the document said.
Negotiations in the so-called Doha round resumed in Geneva last week on the basis of two new proposals to break a deadlock between rich and poor nations over how much to cut barriers in agricultural and industrial trade. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders said overall success of the negotiations depends on early progress in bridging gaps in those two critical areas, the statement said.
"We pledge the political will, flexibility and ambition to ensure the Doha Round negotiations enter their final phase this year," it said. "We call on our WTO partners to join in this vital effort."
A successful global trade agreement would "deliver new trade flows for the benefit of all, including developing countries," it added.
APEC members, which include trading powers China, Japan and the United States, collectively accounting for half of global trading volume and thus have a major stake in helping to create a rules-based, global trading system, the statement said.
A separate, broader final declaration from the leaders also highlighted steps announced by the leaders Saturday to curb global warming, which included two nonbinding goals on improving energy efficiency and increasing forest cover.
The leaders will continue to examine a proposal to create a Pacific-wide free-trade zone that would stretch from China to Chile and include all 21 APEC members, the broader final declaration said. APEC officials say the idea, dubbed the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, faces numerous hurdles and is a long-term prospect.
In the area of enhancing human security, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to dismantle terrorist groups, eliminate the danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and protect financial systems from abuse by terrorist groups, the statement said, without offering further specifics.
The leaders also agreed on the need to develop a more robust approach to strengthening food and consumer produce safety standards and practices, the document said.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Regional Haze Dialogue works on new strategies to fight climate change
Regional Haze Dialogue works on new strategies to fight climate change
channelnewsasia.com
Posted: 20 August 2007 2221 hrs
SINGAPORE : Representatives from five South East Asian countries along with Japan and Australia took part in a Regional Haze Dialogue in Singapore on Monday.
The Dialogue was co-organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies of Indonesia and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia.
They are coming up with fresh strategies they hope their governments can adopt to address the global climate change issue.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the record haze that blanketed much of Southeast Asia.
And thanks partially to luck with wet weather, forecasts of another bad fog-out have failed to materialise so far this year.
But experts are warning against complacency.
Drawing links between forest fires and global climate change, the experts emphasised how the recurrence of carbon-rich haze caused by illegal fires in Indonesia's vast tropical peatlands may help fuel global warming if left unchecked.
The meeting comes ahead of November's ASEAN Leaders Summit in Singapore and the UN-sponsored Bali Climate Change conference in December.
In a statement following a one-day dialogue here, the delegates acknowledged some "positive steps" taken by Indonesia to deal with the problem, but said Jakarta and the region needed to do more.
Associate Professor Simon Tay, Chairman, Singapore Institute of International Affairs, says: "All the participants at the dialogue really welcomed ASEAN's focus on the environment. They were quick to say that if we look at our region, there are many issues on the table.
"But the haze and the underlying causes of deforestation and unsustainable development of the economy like palm oil - these really are issues that must be first and foremost when the ASEAN summit talks about the environment. Because when the summit meets, this gives us the opportunity for leaders at the very top to really set a very strong political tone and help coordinate the different agencies of forestry, agriculture, economics with this environment issue." - CNA/ch
channelnewsasia.com
Posted: 20 August 2007 2221 hrs
SINGAPORE : Representatives from five South East Asian countries along with Japan and Australia took part in a Regional Haze Dialogue in Singapore on Monday.
The Dialogue was co-organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies of Indonesia and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia.
They are coming up with fresh strategies they hope their governments can adopt to address the global climate change issue.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the record haze that blanketed much of Southeast Asia.
And thanks partially to luck with wet weather, forecasts of another bad fog-out have failed to materialise so far this year.
But experts are warning against complacency.
Drawing links between forest fires and global climate change, the experts emphasised how the recurrence of carbon-rich haze caused by illegal fires in Indonesia's vast tropical peatlands may help fuel global warming if left unchecked.
The meeting comes ahead of November's ASEAN Leaders Summit in Singapore and the UN-sponsored Bali Climate Change conference in December.
In a statement following a one-day dialogue here, the delegates acknowledged some "positive steps" taken by Indonesia to deal with the problem, but said Jakarta and the region needed to do more.
Associate Professor Simon Tay, Chairman, Singapore Institute of International Affairs, says: "All the participants at the dialogue really welcomed ASEAN's focus on the environment. They were quick to say that if we look at our region, there are many issues on the table.
"But the haze and the underlying causes of deforestation and unsustainable development of the economy like palm oil - these really are issues that must be first and foremost when the ASEAN summit talks about the environment. Because when the summit meets, this gives us the opportunity for leaders at the very top to really set a very strong political tone and help coordinate the different agencies of forestry, agriculture, economics with this environment issue." - CNA/ch
World Leaders Must Wake Up
World leaders must wake up
Many do not realise danger their populations face from global warming: MM Lee
Jasmine Yin
jasmine@mediacorp.com.sg
Singapore News // Friday, August 31, 2007
World leaders must wake up
Many do not realise danger their populations face from global warming: MM Lee
Jasmine Yin
jasmine@mediacorp.com.sg
THE dangers of rising sea levels may not have sunk in yet for some world leaders but Singapore, for one, is taking no chances with global warming.
Referring to ongoing talks with the Dutch to build dikes, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said, in an interview with the International Herald Tribune conducted last week and published yesterday: "We are too vulnerable. If the water goes up by one metre, we can have dikes and save ourselves.
"But if the water goes up by three, four, five metres, what will happen to us? Half of Singapore will disappear.
The valuable half — the seafronts!"
There are several projects running into billions of dollars that are currently underway all around the island-state's waterfront, such as the new Marina Bay downtown and the upscale Sentosa Cove residences.
Illustrating the possible mammoth upheaval to people's lives in the event of glaciers in the Himalayas melting and rivers like the Mekong drying up, Mr Lee said: "What will happen to the hundreds of millions? Where do they go? Where can they go? This will be a very serious problem.
"It scares me because many world leaders have not woken up to the peril that their populations are in."
This issue has been put on the backburner because "it's not an election issue", he said. "You know maybe (in) 50 years, a hundred years, most of us would be dead. Leave it to the next president."
But instead of cutting down reliance on energy, Mr Lee argued that implementing green technologies was a more realistic approach to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions.
The pro-active stance that Singapore is taking towards the predicted rise in sea levels has much to do with its survival instinct as a young and small immigrant nation.
From attracting multi-national corporation investments to the push for English as the working language, Singapore has to "go in whatever direction world conditions dictate if we are to survive and to be part of this modern world".
He cautioned: "If we are not connected to this modern world, we are dead. We'll go back to the fishing village we once were."
Mr Lee also touched on the rise of China and India, reiterating that these two emerging powerhouses present more of an opportunity than a challenge for the region.
He added: "I believe it will be conflict-free between big powers because it's too costly for them. But between big powers against small powers, the squeezing of small powers, that will go on. Between small powers themselves, the small will squeeze the smaller.
"But I do not believe hostilities are worth anybody's while."
Many do not realise danger their populations face from global warming: MM Lee
Many do not realise danger their populations face from global warming: MM Lee
Jasmine Yin
jasmine@mediacorp.com.sg
Singapore News // Friday, August 31, 2007
World leaders must wake up
Many do not realise danger their populations face from global warming: MM Lee
Jasmine Yin
jasmine@mediacorp.com.sg
THE dangers of rising sea levels may not have sunk in yet for some world leaders but Singapore, for one, is taking no chances with global warming.
Referring to ongoing talks with the Dutch to build dikes, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said, in an interview with the International Herald Tribune conducted last week and published yesterday: "We are too vulnerable. If the water goes up by one metre, we can have dikes and save ourselves.
"But if the water goes up by three, four, five metres, what will happen to us? Half of Singapore will disappear.
The valuable half — the seafronts!"
There are several projects running into billions of dollars that are currently underway all around the island-state's waterfront, such as the new Marina Bay downtown and the upscale Sentosa Cove residences.
Illustrating the possible mammoth upheaval to people's lives in the event of glaciers in the Himalayas melting and rivers like the Mekong drying up, Mr Lee said: "What will happen to the hundreds of millions? Where do they go? Where can they go? This will be a very serious problem.
"It scares me because many world leaders have not woken up to the peril that their populations are in."
This issue has been put on the backburner because "it's not an election issue", he said. "You know maybe (in) 50 years, a hundred years, most of us would be dead. Leave it to the next president."
But instead of cutting down reliance on energy, Mr Lee argued that implementing green technologies was a more realistic approach to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions.
The pro-active stance that Singapore is taking towards the predicted rise in sea levels has much to do with its survival instinct as a young and small immigrant nation.
From attracting multi-national corporation investments to the push for English as the working language, Singapore has to "go in whatever direction world conditions dictate if we are to survive and to be part of this modern world".
He cautioned: "If we are not connected to this modern world, we are dead. We'll go back to the fishing village we once were."
Mr Lee also touched on the rise of China and India, reiterating that these two emerging powerhouses present more of an opportunity than a challenge for the region.
He added: "I believe it will be conflict-free between big powers because it's too costly for them. But between big powers against small powers, the squeezing of small powers, that will go on. Between small powers themselves, the small will squeeze the smaller.
"But I do not believe hostilities are worth anybody's while."
Many do not realise danger their populations face from global warming: MM Lee
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