LOS CABOS, Oct 26: With countries around the globe in a mad dash to negotiate as many trade pacts as they can, top World Trade Organization officials are urging them to stop and consider the consequences.

At a meeting this week of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi expressed concern that the flurry of bilateral and regional talks could steal time and attention away from multilateral negotiations under WTO.

Supachai told reporters he wished countries of North and South America well in their effort to put together a regional free trade agreement by January 2005 — the same deadline for the current round of WTO talks.

But he also said developing countries with limited resources to engage in trade talks might be wiser to concentrate their efforts at the multilateral level, where they could achieve “the most success.”

Supachai’s top aide, Stuart Harbinson, told business executives attending the APEC meeting that the drive for bilateral and regional agreements has produced a very messy patchwork of pacts.

There are now more than 250 bilateral and regional trade agreements around the world, according to WTO data.

Because the terms vary, companies face a challenging task of keeping all the rules straight, Harbinson said, and some agreements also have the potential to discriminate against countries who are not members.

The 21 members of APEC comprise a diverse set of economies in Asia, the Americas and Oceania.

Members include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

The group has a goal of free trade among developed country members by 2010 and the rest of the region by 2020.

In a joint statement on Thursday, APEC foreign and trade ministers endorsed the use of regional trade agreements and free trade pacts to achieve those targets. But they also said the pacts agreement should be consistent with WTO rules.

A partial checklist provides a glimpse into the flurry of trade negotiating activity:

— China will begin free trade talks soon with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

— Mexico, with 28 free trade agreements already to its name, plans to sign an agreement with Japan on Sunday to open a new set of free trade negotiations.

— the United States is concluding free trade agreements with Singapore and Chile and plans new negotiations with Morocco and countries in Central America and Southern Africa.

— Singapore is also close to wrapping up talks with Australia, which would like a deal with the United States.

Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said countries interested in expanding trade had to explore other options after efforts to launch WTO negotiations failed in 1999.

That was terribly disappointing because the multilateral system lost a couple of years, Vaile said.

In November 2001, WTO members succeeded at last in launching a new round of trade talks.

But rather than put all their eggs in the WTO basket, trade-oriented countries are hedging their bets by pursuing free trade agreements where ever they can, Vaile said.—Reuters