BANGKOK (via PLDT) – President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo today said that the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is receptive
to the idea of removing contentious issues from the World Trade Organization (WTO) agenda,
which have hampered discussions on the multilateral trading system.
In a statement, the President said that during the
first day of the 11th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, also known as the
first Leaders’ Retreat, held yesterday at the Santi Maitri Building or Government
House here, she told her counterparts that the issues that derailed the WTO discussions in
Cancun, Mexico, are more within the ambit of sovereign policy-making rather than
multilateral trade.
These issues, the President said, include the
determination of investment, procurement, competitiveness and trade facilitation, which
the rich countries would like to incorporate in the WTO agenda but which were strongly
opposed by developing countries, including the Philippines. .(full story)
