US President George W. Bush preached a message of "free markets, free trade and free people" today at his last international summit, pledging to use his remaining time in office to work toward a successful onclusion of the Doha world trade talks.
"I recognize that I'm leaving office in two months but nevertheless this administration will push hard to put the modalities in place so that Doha can be completed and so we send a message we refuse to accept protectionism in the 21st century," Mr Bush said in a speech to business leaders at a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The Group of 20 developed and developing country leaders meeting last week in Washington "expressed solidarity with the idea of completing Doha, and now we've got to put those words into action," Bush told the executives before heading into closed-door meetings with Apec heads of state.
The United States, China, Japan and other major Apec members also belong to the G20, which agreed last week to work on financial reform while promising to keep markets open to foreign trade.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Doha - a long-frustrated attempt to forge a global free trade platform - came up in Mr Bush's bilateral meetings during the day with the leaders of North Korea and Japan.
"Doha has come up in every meeting," she said. "There is a path to get Doha done. The president wants to walk it and make everyone walks it with him so that we can get this done in the next couple of months."
The Apec summit, which groups 21 economies from the Asias and the Americas around the Pacific, comes as world leaders are struggling to restore global economic health in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
"I think we ought to focus our efforts on three great forces for economic growth: free markets, free trade and free people," the US president told the business leaders.
Mr Bush welcomed Peru and Australia's decision to join the United States, Singapore, Chile and Brunei in negotiating a regional free trade trade pact. He lashed out at Congress for failing to approve three free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama before adjourning this week.
Reuters