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The following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph WP Wong, in Hanoi, Viet Nam today (November 15):
Reporter: You said that there is a consensus among the APEC ministers over the need to quickly resume the Doha Round talk. But do you see any tension in the opinion over whether or not there should be a Free Trade Agreement signed just among the Asia Pacific Rim and whether or not this should be done and about a time frame which it should be achieved.
SCIT: Let me put it this way, my feeling is that there is a very strong consensus among APEC trade ministers that it is the most immediate and the top priority for APEC. And this is something for the APEC leaders to consider when they need in a few days time that APEC members should really demonstrate a very strong commitment, and as in the past, demonstrate a leadership to push for the early resumption and the successful conclusion of the Doha Round. This will be APEC’s main and most immediate priority. So far as the idea of free trade area for APEC members are concerned, there have been some discussions on this topic. But as I said, there is consensus at this moment in time that we should really focus our attention on pushing for successful conclusion of the Doha Round. Even within APEC, continuous work has been proceeding in terms of putting down barriers, in terms of providing more measures to facilitate trade. In this connection, a study on whether or not there should be further efforts to be made, such as further study on the notion of free trade area is something which of course could be pursued in this context.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 21:37
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