APEC meeting ends

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-20-2006 09:29

Leaders from the 21 APEC member economies have ended their two-day meeting after issuing the Hanoi Declaration in Vietnam. The leaders have pledged to go all out in promoting free trade and investment in the region.

Before concluding the meeting, leaders posed for an official photograph wearing traditional Vietnamese "ao dai", or long dresses, to show their solidarity.

The leaders held discussions under the theme of "towards a dynamic community for sustainable development and prosperity." They reached consensus on a range of issues, including advancing free trade and investment, enhancing security, and building stronger societies and a more dynamic and harmonious community.

Many leaders reaffirmed that support for the Doha Development Agenda remains a top priority of APEC, and vowed to spare no efforts to break the current deadlock.

APEC forum leaders stated that member economies will continue efforts to fight terrorism.

The Hanoi Declaration was issued after the closing of the two-day annual meeting. Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet read the Declaration at the National Convention Center.

He said: "We reiterated our commitment to greater economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and planned to strengthen our efforts towards this end. We share the APEC business council advisory's views that while there are practical difficulties in negotiating a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific at this time, it would nonetheless be timely for APEC to seriously consider more effective avenues towards trade and investment liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region."

The declaration also urged APEC member economies to further intensify cooperation in emergency preparedness and disaster response. And take measures to safeguard energy security for the region's sustainable economic development.

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Hu calls for more APEC cooperation >>

Editor:Wang Ping