PUSAN. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev)
The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which has opened in Pusan in South Korea, has once again confirmed the widely held view that APEC is not a Pacific WTO and cannot duplicate its functions. It can do many other things, however, which relate to the economy indirectly but which no one else can tackle.
The APEC forum is not even an organization, but a mechanism needed to shape the economic community in the vast region accounting, according to the most recent figures, for 57% of world GDP and 45.8% of world trade. Minimum customs tariffs and a global free trade zone (persistently built up by the WTO) are greatly needed for the 21 economies making up APEC. George W. Bush, Hu Jintao, Vladimir Putin, Junichiro Koizumi and other APEC leaders, who are now arriving for the weekend summit, are expected to issue a statement on the WTO.
For several years now the summit has been releasing statements on the early admission to the WTO of two APEC members: Russia and Vietnam. A similar high-level statement is being drafted in Pusan. But it is unclear what changes it can bring about; most likely, none at all. On the whole, the effect of the leaders' statement will be questionable - EU agricultural subsidies are likely to provide a distraction for the December WTO forum. APEC, on the other hand, is gaining in strength and prestige. New lines of work, which have become apparent in Pusan, show why this process is taking place.
The umbrella term encompassing these lines is human security. Such, at least, is the wording given in the final document of the conference of APEC trade and foreign ministers that ended on November 16.
Human security at APEC embraces the fight against terrorism and epidemics, natural disaster relief, and the still unclear issue of energy security.
According to Vasily Dobrovolsky, the ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russia's senior official at APEC, this Pacific structure has had a "virtual task force," which has existed on paper for several years, to deal with emergency situations. Shortly before the Pusan forum, Russia, Thailand and Australia came up with the initiative to give the force muscle and make it real.
The idea is not to create a powerful supranational agency: APEC experience suggests that each country has dealt and will continue to deal with emergencies on its own. But coordination of efforts, and an exchange of facts, information and technologies can be surprisingly successful and bring good results.
This first became apparent in 2003 during a break-out of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic (a pneumonia-like illness). APEC rightly takes credit for the campaign: pooling of immigration and health data bases proved an effective measure.
Understandably, this year APEC came up with the same idea to cope with bird flu. The disease has taken center stage at Pusan. The weekend summit will consider the results of the APEC symposium on influenza in Brisbane, Australia. Its findings contain proposals on what the 21 economies can and must do to curtail the approaching epidemic. APEC has already budgeted two million dollars as a first installment towards financing the research.
Human security also covers Pacific governments' response to natural disasters - for example, last year's tsunami.
But what can be done against a huge tidal wave even if all countries in the region or in the world combine their efforts? It turns out that tsunamis can be predicted and prompt aid given in its wake.
To deal with such matters an APEC climate center is opening in Pusan on November 18 - to analyze regional information about "unusual weather." A research center will also be set up. All that is a typically Korean contribution to APEC, since the Koreans specialize in everything connected with information processing, leaving the Japanese and the rest of the region behind. APEC structures also make a careful study of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's handling of crises, especially following its success in Indonesia.
The future task force is likely to coordinate efforts both on energy security and anti-corruption. Issues such as these are not directly related to economics, but they affect the business climate in the Pacific area, and their number is expected to increase.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that the ministerial meeting discussed general security measures - Pacific safety standards for airports and all transportation. Russia proposed that a sea navigation security center be set up within APEC.
This new policy will be shaped in the course of the upcoming year, right up to the next APEC forum in Vietnam.
