Word: summit
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...summit's most practical results are likely to come in the area of structural reform, which even Colin Heseltine, director of the APEC Secretariat in Singapore, describes as "rather dry." So far the organization has focused on reducing red tape, tariffs and other barriers between borders. It now wants to move behind borders, helping members harmonize their approach to business competition and regulation, product standards and corporate governance. A recent study at the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific estimated that fully implementing such reforms would add over $100 billion a year to APEC's collective...
...APEC exists to promote economic growth through freer trade, but for this summit Australia, using its prerogative as host, has put climate change at the top of the agenda. Some may connect this with the fact that there's a national election coming up, but Downer believes "APEC very much has the potential to launch a new approach on the issue." Last year Australia helped launch the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, five of whose six members belong to APEC. Rejecting Kyoto Protocol-style restrictions, the AP6 vowed a voluntary, collaborative effort to promote clean-energy technologies...
...Making climate change a priority at the leaders' summit was "a mistake," says John Edwards, chief economist in Australia for the HSBC financial group. Since the U.N. already has a framework for addressing the issue, he argues, APEC's impact will be negligible. Meanwhile, "they have missed the opportunity to do something serious on the issue of trade, by advancing the concept of an overarching free-trade agreement for the region...
...Critics say APEC's successes are vague and its influence fading. Former Australian P.M. Paul Keating, who helped convene the first leaders' summit in 1993, has slammed APEC as "a talk shop of debatable output." The region has other forums, notably the 16-member East Asian Summit. But, says HSBC's Edwards, only APEC "includes both China and the U.S. and all the economies that have most to lose if their relationship broke down. There are all sorts of points of tension between the two that can be modulated by the diplomacy of the others." With many members allied with...
...politically charged September report card to be delivered to Congress by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Bush will give a second speech next week at the American Legion in Reno, Nevada, and another a week later on a trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit taking place this year in Sydney, Australia. The speeches will coincide with the launch of a $15 million ad campaign by a group called Freedom's Watch - which counts former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer as one of its founders - aimed at bolstering flagging support...