16/11/05 South Korea (Bernama) -- Malaysia says the result of the upcoming World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations in Hong Kong must be a win-win situation for all.

"Malaysia firmly believes in an open, fair and equitable multilateral trading system and wants a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations," Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said in a statement.

Rafidah who attended the APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM), which kicked off here Tuesday, said the meeting discussed the current status of negotiations at the WTO and identified measures on how Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) could further step up efforts in order to achieve a substantial and balanced outcome at the sixth WTO Ministerial Conference (6MC) in Hong Kong next month.

Foreign and trade ministers from 21 Asia Pacific rim economies, in a joint statement today reaffirmed their commitment to the WTO Doha round. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar also attended the AMM.

The ministers reaffirmed the utmost importance APEC economies attach to the successful conclusion of the DDA negotiations by the end of 2006.

They concurred that the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference set for next month will be a critical step in achieving this goal, the statement said.

The APEC ministers said in the statement, to be reflected in their leaders' declaration later this week, that significant progress must be made in resolving still remaining and considerable divergences, and that a clear roadmap for completing the Doha Round must be established.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will join other leaders such as U.S. President George Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for the leaders' summit this Friday and Saturday.

On agriculture, Malaysia, she said, called for tariff reductions that would address high tariffs and provide real market access opportunities, especially for products such as palm oil.

As for agricultural subsidies, Rafidah said, Malaysia supported substantial reductions of domestic support and elimination of export subsidies by the developed countries which were the major users of such subsidies.

Turning to non-agricultural products, Malaysia urged that the formula used for tariff reduction take into account the low applied rates in countries such as Malaysia and treat them far more favourably than those with very high applied rates.

Malaysia, she added, offered to bind more tariffs in the WTO, as most tariffs in the manufacturing had been unilaterally reduced.

Touching on services, she said Malaysia supported the need to improve the quality of offers, but stressed that this must be based on progressive liberalization.

She said Malaysia also called for a balanced outcome between market access negotiations and rule-making.

Malaysia, she said was also actively pursing the establishment of Emergency Safeguard Measures (ESM) for services in the WTO which would provide confidence for developing countries to undertake further liberalization.

Such ESM were necessary to mitigate any negative impact on domestic service suppliers that might arise as a result of liberalization, she said.

On trade facilitation, Malaysia believes that there should be genuine commitment in building and enhancing capacity for the developing economies to take on more obligations, she said, adding that efficient delivery system in the field of trade facilitation improves the environment for business to prosper.

On APEC capacity building projects, Rafidah said in a separate statement, that Malaysia benefited substantially from APEC opportunities for capacity building, particularly in research, training and information sharing.

"Active participation in APEC capacity building programmes will enable Malaysia to address challenges that impact directly on business facilitation and the cost of doing business in the Asia Pacific region," said Rafidah.

Citing figures, she said Malaysia this year succeeded in securing APEC funds totalling US$437,828 for implementation of five capacity building projects next year.

These projects, she noted had been developed in close consultation with stakeholders, including business, industry and academia to ensure that the outcomes meet their needs.

In addition, Malaysia also collaborated actively with other APEC economies and collectively managed to obtain a further US$746,084 of APEC funds to implement 10 other projects next year.

-- BERNAMA