Leaders of Pacific Rim nations promised to work together on further “extraordinary” steps to combat the global economic crisis and pledged to refrain from erecting new barriers to trade and investment.
Leaders of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, which includes the US, China and Japan and accounts for half of world output, also called for improved corporate governance and backed efforts to thaw frozen credit markets.
“We have already taken urgent and extraordinary steps to stabilise our financial sectors and strengthen economic growth and promote investment and consumption,” the group said in a statement during its meeting in Lima, Peru. “We will continue to take such steps, and work closely, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, to implement future actions.”
The meeting comes amid signs the global economic downturn is deepening as companies from Toyota Motor Corp to Palm Inc fire workers to reduce costs. APEC leaders warned that any attempt to shield home markets from overseas competition would only prolong the slump.
“There is a risk that slower world growth could lead to calls for protectionist measures which would only exacerbate the current economic situation,” they said. “Free market principles, and open trade and investment regimes, will continue to drive global growth, employment and poverty reduction.”
Statements of individual leaders, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon, reflected unease over the political transition in the US, where President-elect Barack Obama has expressed reservations about free-trade agreements.
Calderon warned Obama against trying to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying restricting commerce would only encourage illegal Mexican emigration to the US
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“The day access is closed, workers will jump over whatever river or wall you put there,” Calderon told business leaders on Saturday in Lima.President George W Bush, whose term expires in January, complained that Congress hasn’t approved pending trade deals with Colombia and South Korea.
“One of the enduring lessons of the Great Depression is that global protectionism is a path to global economic ruin,” Bush told the summit.
APEC members said their governments are committed to reaching an agreement on the World Trade Organisation’s Doha round of negotiations next month. The talks began in 2001 and negotiators have failed year after year to reach the outlines of a deal.
“We seek an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda negotiations to provide the basis for our economies to grow and prosper,” the statement said. “We are intensifying our engagement with WTO counterparts to create the convergence necessary to achieve this outcome.”
Leaders from the Group of 20 biggest developed and emerging nations on Nov. 15 laid out regulatory proposals to prevent a recurrence of the financial crisis. APEC leaders yesterday said they support the G-20 plan and back the “broad policy response” needed to restore growth and stability to global markets.