Economic Leaders of the 21 member economies of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) adopted a Busan Declaration before they conclude their two-day meeting Saturday in Busan, emphasizing advancing free trade.

The Declaration said APEC Economic Leaders have reiterated their support for the World Trade Organization (WTO).

They showed their strong political will in a separate statement, in which they declared their firm support for the WTO Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations to proceed expeditiously so as to achieve an ambitious and overall balanced outcome at the end of the Round.

APEC leaders also supported the efforts to promptly conclude the accession of Russia and Vietnam to the WTO.

The Declaration said APEC leaders welcomed the outcomes of the Midterm Stocktake on the progress towards achieving the Bogor Goals, which confirm that APEC has made momentous strides towards free and open trade and investment.

The economic leaders endorsed the Busan Roadmap to the Bogor Goals composed of:

-- Support for the Multilateral Trading System;

-- Strengthening Collective and Individual Actions;

-- Promotion of High-Quality Regional Trade Agreements and Free Trade Agreements (RTAs/FTAs);

-- Busan Business Agenda;

-- A Strategic Approach to Capacity Building; and

-- The Pathfinder Approach.

The Declaration called for ongoing work to pursue high quality, transparency and broad consistency in RTAs/FTAs in the region.

It welcomed the APEC Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative and endorsed the model guidelines to stop international trade in counterfeit and pirated goods, reduce on-line piracy, and prevent the sale of counterfeit and pirated goods over the Internet.

The Economic Leaders also called for future work to address IPR protection and enforcement challenges in the region in 2006 in close consultation with the private sector.

They said they instructed Ministers to work on behind-the- border issues in order to enhance the business-friendly environment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Source: Xinhua