(Vatican Radio) Government representatives from 21 Asia-Pacific nations are meeting
in Bali, Indonesia, for the APEC summit. As Alastair Wanklyn reports, the meeting
has heard calls for greater progress on removing barriers to trade.
Listen
to the report:
Opening the
APEC summit, the president of Indonesia called on countries to find ways to spur growth
in trade.
"We all need to do our part to prevent protectionist policies."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said countries need to find new markets
for their goods, but he said they should also consider how to improve the well-being
of their citizens.
The prime minister of Singapore said the Asia-Pacific
faces various challenges, but two of the greatest are... "...removing barriers to
trade, particularly non-tariff barriers, improving supply chain flows so that the
trade can move with minimum hindrance."
Lee Hsien Loong noted that every
business in every nation lobbies its government for protection.
Meanwhile,
on the sidelines of this summit 12 APEC members are holding talks on their upcoming
free-trade bloc, the Transpacific Partnership, which aims to increase trade between
nations such as the United States, Vietnam and Japan. South Korea has expressed interest
in joining. But several members now say the group may miss its target of agreeing
a framework by the end of this year.