Mexico plans Doha Round reactivation at APEC summit: official

Mexico will propose reactivating the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) summit set for Nov. 18-19 in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, a senior trade official said on Monday.

Roberto Zapata Barradas, director general of multilateral and regional relations of the Economy Ministry told Xinhua that Mexico believes the Doha Round must be reactivated and a clear signal should be sent on this topic.

Mexico considers developing nations to have lost out the most, when the Doha Round was halted, Zapata said, noting that if the Doha Round failed, the effectiveness of the WTO itself will come into question.

Mexico will continue pushing for the Doha Round, and most emerging nations feel the same way about the round, he said.

The Mexican minister appealed to China, a major player in world trade, to play "a more active role" and to "be more vocal" about the need to push forward the Doha Round.

The Mexican government is interested in boosting, rather than just maintaining APEC's credibility, the official said, and the nation will support a reform to rationalize and better use APEC resources.

"APEC has the elements needed to be the anchor for regional integration," he said.

Mexico's President Vicente Fox, and two deputy ministers will take part in the APEC summit. "For Mexico, APEC is a fundamental body in our Asia-Pacific relations," Zapata said.

The Doha Round of talks began in 2001, and was supposed to be completed by the end of 2006. It's primary aim was the development of more open trade in agricultural production, industry and services.

The talks were halted because the United States, the European Union, Brazil, India, Japan and Australia could not agree on agricultural subsidies or industrial product tariffs.

Source: Xinhua