The annual APEC summit is being hosted by Vietnam this year. The power packed dignitary list includes US President George Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Australian Prime Minister John Howard among other leaders.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) is a group that was formed in 1989 to improve mutual trade and economic reforms among the countries in this region. It has 21 member nations.
The APEC summit being held in Vietnam is considered a kind of entrance of Communist Vietnam into the free world. Vietnam, on its part, is using the summit to focus on the economic development it has done under the auspices of the Communist government. The government is trying to showcase that country has political and economic stability under the regime and is looking forward to grow on the world stage. Vietnam is expected to join the 149 member World Trade Organization (WTO) soon.
President Bush has arrives for the APEC summit with some important topics on his agenda. Firstly he has called for the renewal of talks on global trade which had reached a stalemate in the last WTO talks in July. He is also pushing for a free trade zone along the Pacific Rim. However his efforts in this direction had received a setback at home where the House of Representatives rejected a bill for normalizing trade relations with Vietnam.
But President Bush is hopeful of it being passed sooner or later. The other topic that is uppermost on his mind is the nuclear weapon capacity of North Korea. He has emphasized that any proliferation of arms to opposing nations or terrorist groups by North Korea will not be tolerated. He expects the Asian nations of the region to send out a strong signal to North Korea on this account and also negotiate with it on dumping nuclear arms.
The shadow of the war in Iraq followed President Bush more closely in Vietnam where the Americans had lost a long fought war. People have been questioning him on the lessons from Vietnam which he could use in Iraq but the matter has been dismissed.
Meanwhile pro democracy groups and exiles from Vietnam who love in the US are apprehensive about Bush's visit to Vietnam and also the change in Washington's policy on Vietnam. They feel that this would give the Communist regime the necessary support to continue governance and stall democracy.
