Sunday, November 23, 2008
APEC leaders rallied behind the economic crisis plan.
LIMA, Peru (AP) — President George W. Bush snared fresh international support Saturday on the economy and North Korea, emerging from his final world gathering with modest wins and growing nostalgia about his turbulent tenure.
Dogged by a collapsing economy late in his presidency, Bush came away with the commitment he wanted from Asia’s Pacific nations: a pledge to keep trade flowing and shun protectionism.
And Bush got a boost as the six nations involved in ridding North Korea of its nuclear weaponry agreed to meet in China in December, perhaps to finally lock in a disarmament deal.
All the while, Bush displayed a new willingness to look back on his term and speak wistfully about it, the kind of reflection he previously had dismissed as premature or pointless.
Barring a surprise trip to Iraq or Afghanistan, Bush’s foreign travel as president is ending with this Pacific Rim economic summit in Peru.
“We’ve had our agreements; we’ve had our disagreements,” Bush said to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a rather succinct nod to a bilateral relationship that has certainly seen better days. “I’ve tried to work hard to make it a cordial relationship, though.”
Bush now returns to Washington to the same sober realities: an economy in tatters, feuds with Congress, and only two months left to do anything.
The 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or APEC, rallied behind the economic crisis plan that Bush and other leaders forged last week in Washington. It already had the stamp of the world’s richest economies and emerging powers, including some APEC nations, and now Bush can tout that other Pacific Rim nations are united in the cause.
Most notably, the APEC leaders offered a strong statement in support of free trade. That was Bush’s primary appeal when he launched a defense of open markets earlier in the day.
Evoking one of his country’s darkest times, Bush said: “One of the enduring lessons of the Great Depression is that global protectionism is a path to global economic ruin.”
Bush went so far as to turn the depressing financial crisis into an upbeat opportunity, describing it as a chance for world unity and prosperity. He backed up that lofty idea not with any specifics but broad principles, promoting the power of open markets and free people.
“With confidence in our ideals, we can turn the challenge we face today to an opportunity — and lead the way toward a new era of prosperity for the Asia Pacific and beyond,” he said.
The Asia-Pacific leaders also pledged to reach agreement next month on the outlines of a World Trade Organization pact that collapsed in July after seven years of negotiations. But outside experts say that deal is likely dead, at least for the rest of Bush’s presidency.
On the North Korea nuclear showdown, the White House announced that the six nations engaged in the matter were poised to get back to the negotiating table. Their goal is reaching terms on how to accurately verify North Korea’s nuclear dismantling efforts.