No entry for new members at least until 2010: APEC

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, whose 21 members account for nearly half of world trade, is saying 'no' to India and a slew of other countries who want to join, for now.

Expansion of the grouping is being delayed, at least until 2010, according to a draft of a statement to be released by APEC leaders this weekend.

"No new members," Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba said when asked.

The decision leaves pending membership requests from a dozen countries including India, Mongolia and Colombia. The backlog is due in part to a 10-year moratorium on new members APEC imposed in 1997 that was supposed to expire this year.

The draft leaders' statement did not say if the moratorium would be formally extended. The leaders could decide to change the terms at their weekend meeting. The fact that the paragraph on expansion in the draft was enclosed in brackets means that officials were still wrangling over the wording.

"We agreed to review the issue of membership in 2010/2011/2012," the bracketed text said.