ASIA PACIFIC: Danger of building an APEC trade bloc
Updated
21 Asia Pacific economies of APEC are about to confront the hard questions involved in creating a free trade area of the Asia Pacific. Senior APEC officials will begin meeting in the Queensland city of Cairns this week, preparing for a meeting of APEC trade ministers in the first week of July. As an Australian diplomat, Andrew Elek, helped build the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group in 1989, and has worked on APEC analysis ever since. He has warned any attempt to create a trade bloc across the Asia Pacific would wreck the regional grouping.
Dr Andrew Elek of the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government, Australian National University
Presenter: Graeme Dobell
