APEC summit amidst protests; India not admitted

Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), meeting in Sydney for a summit on September 8-9, 2007, amidst unprecedented security, will discuss a wide range of issues including free trade, climate change, establishing a free trade area (see earlier report ‘APEC countries to consider APEC-wide FTA') and expanding membership of the 21-member grouping.

Leaders will also announce plans to strengthen intellectual property rules and agree to develop a common set of food safety principles, according to a draft communiqué to be issued on September 9.

The leaders agreed to a “robust approach” in strengthening food safety standards and common standards to defend against deliberate contamination of food.

The draft also says APEC will not admit any new members after its 10-year moratorium ends this year, and will possibly review membership in 2010.

India applied for membership 14 years ago, but is unlikely to be admitted before 2010. Since 1997, the group has had a moratorium on new members; as many as 16 countries have applied.

The summit is being held under heavy security, with 3,500 specially legislated policemen with search-and-seize powers drafted in, backed by 1,500 army men, and the navy and air force patrolling the seas and skies above Sydney. A steel and concrete fence has been erected through the centre of town to protect the delegates. Civil liberty groups have condemned these measures saying they are aimed at stifling democratic dissent.

Civil society groups feel the agenda of the current APEC meeting is not focused on supporting the millions in poverty. Representatives of several such groups have gathered in Sydney to protest against the heavily business-oriented agenda of APEC as well as other issues.

“There are more than 700 million people in the region living on less than a dollar a day. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a 15-year action plan to tackle poverty, are nowhere in sight at this APEC meeting, which is a great tragedy,” Jack de Groot, Chief Executive Officer of Caritas Australia told IPS news agency.

Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, the humanitarian overseas aid agency of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, is concerned that APEC is not placing labour rights and aid at the centre of discussions on economic development.

“APEC should be looking at fair trade not free trade,” said Ken Davis from Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA. He added: “In Indonesia, workers are being forced to compete with wage rates in China. Indonesian factories, where even the minimal labour regulations that exist are not being enforced, are shutting down. In China, conditions are even worse -- there is use of slave and child labour and brutal suppression of workers.”

Sydney-based aid and trade watchdog AID/WATCH, and Manila-based

Asia-Pacific Research Network organised a three-day workshop beginning September 4 called ‘To Oppose Free Trade Agreements: Making People Matter'.

Professor Jane Kelsey from the Asia-Pacific Research Network said: “This workshop brings a warning and a promise -- civil society organisations are determined to act against free trade agreements, and together have the capacity to turn them around.”

Patricia Ranald from the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network observed that APEC brought together “only business and government, with no involvement of community groups, and no consideration of human rights, labour rights or real environmental protection”.

APEC members account for 40% of the world's population, 56% of global production, and 48% of world trade.

APEC groups the US, Japan, China, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.