Hanoi Declaration Wraps Up Summit
By Hadi Dp Mahmud

Hanoi - His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang DiPertuan of Brunei Darussalam, yesterday joined other Apec leaders for the second retreat at Hanoi National Convention Centre.

The discussion at the session was focused on the region's fundamentals of growth and sustainable development in the perspective of economic and human security. In the session, His Majesty in a titah stated that every Apec member is faced with the challenge of creating growth and sustaining development in a world filled with threats of terrorism, health pandemic and natural disaster.

For Brunei, His Majesty said, the development of human resources, practicing good governance policy and narrowing social and economic disparities had helped achieved economic growth and prosperity.

These objectives cannot be achieved without addressing the security and health challenges, His Majesty added. As such His Majesty said cooperation and collaboration as well as promoting respect and tolerance towards different cultures through dialogue and education especially for the youths would play a part to promote regional growth, stability and development. "This is why, one of Apec's key responsibilities was to continue to build the confidence and capacity of members in these diverse areas," said His Majesty.

After the retreat, His Majesty and the 20 other Apec member economies wrapped up the twoday summit in Hanoi with a cohesive call for the resumption of the Doha Round talks and a commitment to consider a freetrade area for the Asia-Pacific region.

Pacific Rim leaders declared they would do their utmost to break the deadlock in global trade talks in a final statement at the end of their weekend summit yesterday, during which Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet read out the Hanoi Declaration.

The leaders warned that failure to forge a World Trade Organisation agreement would bring "grave" economic consequences.

The Doha Round talks collapsed in July amid disputes over farm trade. No public statement was made on North Korea's nuclear programme, but the leaders forged a joint statement that was read orally in closed-door meetings that urged the communist nation to take concrete steps to live' up to its commitments to stop developing atomic bombs. The leaders also instructed their officials to further study the creation of the expansive Apec-wide free trade zone, which stretches from China to Chile, as a long-term goal and to report back to them at next year's Apec gathering in Sydney, Australia.

The declaration also reaffirmed leaders' efforts to combat terrorism, praising the progress made in dismantling cross-border terrorist groups and eliminating the danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Bird flu was also addressed in the summit's final statement, with leaders indicating their commitments to preventing and responding to a possible pandemic.

Before concluding the meeting, the leaders posed for an official photograph, and were dressed in the traditional Vietnamese `Ao Dai", or long dress, to display their solidarity. His Majesty the Sultan Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, sporting an immaculately fitted green colored "Ao Dai" stood next to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Australian Prime Minister John Howard during the Leaders' declaration and the official photograph.

His Majesty left for Brunei Darussalam from Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi at approximately 5.45pm local time yesterday.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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