SINGAPORE, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Leaders of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum pledged on Sunday to conclude Doha global trade talks in 2010 and to reject protectionism, but dropped earlier draft references to "market-oriented exchange rates" and to emissions cuts.
Following are highlights of the leaders' final declaration.
ON SUSTAINING GROWTH
"Today, our robust policy responses have helped to set the stage for recovery. But economic recovery is not yet on a solid footing.
"Our commitments to reject protectionism and keep our markets open and free have enabled trade to be part of the solution rather than the problem. We will maintain our economic stimulus policies until a durable economic recovery has clearly taken hold.
"We recognise the necessity to develop a new growth paradigm for the changed post-crisis landscape, and an expanded trade and investment agenda that will strengthen regional economic integration (REI) in the Asia-Pacific region. We cannot go back to "growth as usual".
ON BALANCED GROWTH
We support the goals of the G-20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth. We join in their commitment to:
- Work together to ensure that our macroeconomic, regulatory and structural policies are collectively consistent with more sustainable and balanced trajectories of growth:
- Promote current account sustainability and open trade and investment to advance global prosperity and growth sustainability;
- Undertake macro prudential and regulatory policies to help prevent credit and asset price cycles from becoming forces of destabilisation; and
- Promote development and poverty reduction as part of the rebalancing of global growth.
ON MULTILATERAL TRADING
"We strongly reaffirm that the most effective means of dealing with protectionist pressures and delivering a global stimulus package to sustain and secure our recovery is an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in 2010, based on the progress achieved to-date, including with regard to modalities.
"It is important that the high-level political commitment to concluding the Doha Round translates into substantive progress in the negotiations. We are ready to exercise pragmatism and all possible flexibility and utilise all possible avenues in order to accelerate the pace of negotiations to secure convergence on a final package."
ON SUSTAINBLE GROWTH
"We will ensure that economic growth in our region is consistent with sustainable development. Anthropogenic climate change is one of the biggest global challenges. It will impact each of our economies.
"We welcome the Declaration of the Leaders of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in L'Aquila and the Leaders' Statement at the G-20 Pittsburgh Summit, and reaffirm our commitment to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen, within the objective, provisions and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"Global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will need to be accompanied by measures, including financial assistance and technology transfer to developing economies for their adaptation to the adverse impact of climate change.
"We recall our Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development in Sydney in 2007, which set out an APEC-wide aspirational target of reducing energy intensity by at least 25 percent by 2030.
"We applaud the efforts made by individual APEC economies that have unilaterally undertaken measures to reduce emissions. Sustainable forest management plays an important role in mitigating global emissions.
"We will enhance work on meeting the aspirational goal in the Sydney Declaration of increasing forest cover in the region by at least 20 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020.
"We support efforts in the UNFCCC negotiations to agree on actions to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing economies.
"We recognise the role of the oceans in mitigating climate change, and the impact of climate change on oceans and coastal areas, and welcome the Manado Ocean Declaration.
"Responding to climate change through transition to green economies also offers opportunities. We will ensure that efforts to address climate change are consistent with our international trade obligations.
"A key thrust in APEC's sustainable growth agenda is the APEC Environmental Goods and Services (EGS) Work Programme, under which we will develop and implement a set of concrete actions to support sustainable growth in the region, advance work to increase utilisation and dissemination of EGS, reduce existing barriers and refrain from introducing new barriers to trade and investment in EGS, and enhance capabilities of economies to develop their EGS sectors.
"We also commit to rationalise and phase out over the medium term fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption, while recognising the importance of providing those in need with essential energy services.
"We will review progress on this at our meeting in 2010. We will also take steps to facilitate the diffusion of climate-friendly technologies, including through economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH) and capacity building activities.
"We will advance work on sharing best practices in energy efficiency with a view to deploying cleaner and more efficient technologies, and welcome the implementation of the voluntary APEC Peer Review on Energy Efficiency.
"We recognise the role of renewable energy in reducing emissions and encourage its development in the APEC region. We will encourage publication on a regular basis, timely, accurate, and complete data on oil production, consumption, refining and stock levels as appropriate." (Editing by Neil Chatterjee)