Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has confirmed that a declaration will be issued following the APEC summit after reports about difficulties with the coordination and the signing of the final declaration.
The participants have adopted the declaration but excluded some controversial points such as the Bogor Goals, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and trade practices, adding that these issues would be covered in the chairperson's address, according to a source.
Earlier, Reuters reported with reference to a member of the Chinese delegation that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Papua New Guinea ended on November 18 with no declaration signed by the APEC states' leaders for the first time ever.
"The leaders agreed that instead of a traditional leaders' declaration, they would leave it to the hands of PNG as the chair to issue a chair statement on behalf of all the members to capture the consensus," senior Chinese diplomat Zhang Xiaolong stated.
This edition of the summit was held from November 17 to November 18 in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.
APEC summits have been held since 1993, and a declaration of the leaders was issued after each summit. All the declarations are available on the website of APEC.
