Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asia-Pacific trade and foreign ministers agreed to extend a pledge to keep from imposing additional trade restrictions in their countries until at least 2013, ahead of a weekend summit of their countries’ leaders.
The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum endorsed regional trade discussions including the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership talks that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is trying to persuade his government to join. The group, meeting in Yokohama, Japan, also called for completing the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks next year.
“We agreed to make our utmost efforts to restrain protectionism,” Japan’s Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said at a press conference in Yokohama. “We reconfirmed our strong will to seek as soon as possible the end to the Doha negotiations.”
The meeting came as the heads of the Group of 20 countries met in Seoul to discuss ways to reduce imbalances in capital flows and currency valuations. About half of the G-20 leaders will travel to Yokohama tomorrow to continue discussions on spurring international economic growth and trade.
Kan will host the Nov. 13-14 APEC summit as he tries to convince his Democratic Party of Japan to participate in the U.S.-led, nine-country TPP negotiations. His Cabinet two days ago agreed to begin preliminary talks on whether to join amid DPJ resistance because the accord would lift tariffs in the agriculture industry, a key voting bloc.
Obama Administration Push
The Obama administration is pushing Japan and South Korea to join the negotiations for what would be the largest U.S. trade accord since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement as it seeks to counter China’s free-trade efforts in the region.
“We welcome Japan’s interest in these discussions,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said yesterday in a speech in Tokyo. Achieving the goal of eliminating all tariffs within the bloc by 2015 “will be a signature accomplishment in a relationship that spans decades.”
The TPP involves the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Singapore, Chile, Vietnam, Peru, and Malaysia.