Asia-Pacific leaders will this week press for the urgent revival of deadlocked world trade talks and urge crucial concessions from the major players, a draft statement said yesterday.
Hailing upcoming negotiations in Geneva as an "unparalleled" opportunity to make progress, the APEC forum will make a last-ditch appeal to sparring trade nations.
The appeal comes with key negotiators scheduled to gather for intensive discussions this week in Geneva aimed at sealing an agreement that would save the Doha round of WTO talks on breaking down global trade barriers.
"We all realize that the stakes are high. Time is running out," said David Spencer, Australia's ambassador to APEC.
In the draft statement, obtained by Agence France Presse, the leaders "pledge to push hard for the progress necessary to ensure the Doha Round negotiations enter their final phase this year."
"There has never been a more urgent need to make progress," the draft statement said.
"The negotiations offer unparalleled potential to lower barriers to trade and to create a freer, fairer and more secure global market in which we can all compete," it said.
"We insist that consensus will only be possible on the basis of an ambitious, balanced result that delivers substantial, real market access for agricultural and industrial goods and for services, as well as reductions in trade-distorting agricultural subsidies," it said.
The draft statement holds out hope that the Doha talks could still succeed.
"The negotiations are undeniably difficult and complex. But real progress has already been made in many areas and it is our firm view that the remaining differences can be successfully bridged," the statement said.
But a senior Southeast Asian official involved in the preparatory meetings for the Sydney summit said the statement lacked punch because it does not give concrete commitments that can break the impasse.
"No one is saying what they are prepared to concede," said the source, who asked not to be named.
The official said it was crucial for the US to take the lead in saying how far it is prepared to go in cutting domestic farm subsidies, and for the US president to be given fast-track negotiating power.
That power expired in June and has not been renewed by the US Congress.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
RSS