Ministers and trade officials gather at the opening session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting in Singapore yesterday

Asia-Pacific trade ministers meeting in Singapore agreed Tuesday to step up efforts to conclude a new global trade pact in 2010 after leaders of key economies agreed on the deadline.

“We have this last bit of the summit to scale and we have to make our best efforts to reach the summit,” Lim told a news conference.

“So that was the collective expression of desire among all the ministers and we are very encouraged by this burst of renewed energy,” he said.

He said APEC ministers “saw the very strong need for us to translate this renewed political commitment into concrete actions at the minister level.”

Officials said the two-day meeting was the largest gathering of trade ministers so far in 2009 and followed a new consensus among key players to wrap up the Doha round of world trade talks next year.

The meeting in Singapore comes two weeks after a Group of Eight (G8) summit in L’Aquila, Italy where leaders of the world’s most powerful nations and emerging economies agreed to wrap up the Doha talks by 2010.

“The challenge for us is how to translate that political commitment and will into concrete plans and to re-energize the negotiations that are taking place in Geneva,” said Lim.

“We should not let the momentum of this commitment be lost,” he said.

Estimates by the World Trade Organization (WTO) showed 80 percent of the work needed for a new global trade deal was already completed, Lim said.

“To reach the peak, the remaining 20 percent always is the more difficult part,” he said.

“So to do that, I think there is a clear understanding that we need to continue to reiterate this political will and to reinforce it in every forum.”

Indonesia’s Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said the Singapore meeting was an important opportunity to “push the process along” after the G8 summit.

Singapore will host the next APEC summit in November.

A senior Asian official said APEC ministers would be instructing their senior officials to prepare the work needed for the conclusion of the Doha talks next year.

“Many ministers agree that they will send strong instructions to the senior officials to start negotiations in Geneva… to re-energize and reinvigorate negotiations and try to find a path through to have a successful and ambitious conclusion to the Doha round in 2010,” said the official, who did not want to be named.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean, also attending the meeting, had said Monday that “a conclusion to the Doha round is the best means for keeping the forces of protectionism in check and for contributing to the emerging economic recovery we are now seeing in our region.”

WTO head Pascal Lamy said last month the Doha talks were back on track, and Indonesia’s Pangestu said 2010 was a “pretty realistic” target after eight years of discussions.

The Doha round was launched in the Qatari capital in late 2001 but has repeatedly foundered, notably over disputes between rich and developing nations on agricultural and industrial products.

APEC’s 21 member economies – including the US, China, Japan and Russia – account for over half of the world’s gross domestic product and almost 44 percent of international trade.

Source: Bloomberg