HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Ministers responsible for trade from the APEC, in a retreat meeting here Thursday morning, centered their discussions on ways of facilitating Doha negotiations so that they could be complete by late 2006 as targeted, said an APEC official.

    "The delegates discussed measures to speed up Doha Development Agenda negotiations, especially those on services and agriculture.I think the late 2006 target set by the World Trade Organization (WTO) could be realized," Tran Trong Toan, executive director of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat, told reporters on the sidelines of the retreat meeting in southern Ho Chi Minh City.

    Some APEC economies are waiting for WTO members' stronger pledges on agriculture, Toan noted. WTO members kicked off the negotiations in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, aiming to slash subsidies, tariffs and other barriers to global commerce.

    He said WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, at the meeting, made a speech on encouraging APEC member economies to show stronger determination on speeding up and then finishing the Doha talks.

    During the meeting, the ministers are to endorse their statement on the Doha negotiations, discuss the development trendsof regional trading arrangements (RTA) and free trade agreements (FTA) in the Asia-Pacific region, their impacts on trade liberalization in the region, and provide guidance on APEC currentworks on RTA and FTA, including the development of model measures,a guide to the core provisions which might be included in a RTA orFTA, on the arrangements and agreements by 2008 deadline.

    "This afternoon, APEC ministers responsible for trade will focus their discussions on formulating an action plan to implement the Busan Roadmap towards the Bogor goals," Toan said.

    Bogor goals were adopted by APEC leaders at their 1994 meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, on free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010 for industrialized economies and 2020 for developing ones.

    The APEC leaders in 2005 developed a blueprint in Busan, South Korea for improving trade and investment facilitation measures, regional travel, and seeking a satisfactory conclusion to the WTO Doha Development Agenda round of negotiations.

    At the 2nd senior officials' meeting in the city from May 30-31,APEC delegates reached consensus on main points of the Hanoi action plan with specific measures to realize Bogor goals, which will be submitted to the two-day ministerial meeting from June 1-2for approval.

    The proposed elements for the action plan include supporting the multilateral action plan, strengthening collective and individual actions, promoting high-quality RTA and FTA, and facilitating the Busan Business Agenda. Enditem