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SYDNEY - As a light aircraft was forced to land after breaching the no-fly area above Sydney yesterday, the leaders of Pacific rim nations agreed to a programme to pull down trade barriers, attack climate change and strengthen the region's ability to fight terrorism, pandemics and emergencies.
The declaration, framed at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, convened under the heaviest security blanket Australia has seen, held few surprises and no binding commitments on any of the major issues on its agenda.
But host Prime Minister John Howard described the agreement of climate change reached on Saturday, and a renewed drive on world trade talks, as significant developments that would help propel international negotiations forward.
While Howard talked up the success of the summit, Air Force F/A 18 Hornet jet fighters and the police were dealing with the most serious breach of security faced by the week-long series of officials, ministerial and leaders' meetings.
Two Hornets reportedly fired flares to warn off a pilot who had repeatedly ignored warnings to leave restricted air space over Sydney, and directed the aircraft to land at Bankstown airport.
A witness told Macquarie Radio that about the time Howard was farewelling leaders from the Opera House, he had seen the aircraft fly towards the city from the west.
The pilot was being questioned by police last night
Below, Howard was praising the ability of leaders to overcome serious differences to reach agreement on crucial issues facing the region - especially climate change, which he regarded as the most significant agreement to come out of the summit.
Howard conceded that before the summit he held doubts that leaders would be able to achieve agreement to work towards aspirational goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a major emitters' conference in Washington this month, and the following meeting on the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change.
He said the Apec climate change statement - which also committed member nations to work within UN negotiations - was the first to achieve agreement from China and Japan on aspirational goals. He defended its lack of specific targets or binding commitments, saying that leaders recognised they all represented economies with different needs, views and capacities, and that there was no "one size fits all" solution. "Kyoto didn't fix it," he said.
On trade, the summit issued a separate statement emphasising the "crucial importance" of the stalled Doha round of World Trade Organisation negotiations, saying that as the leaders of nations that accounted for almost half of the world's trade they were determined the talks would succeed.
The leaders "insisted" that agreement would only be possible by real progress in lowering barriers to trade in agriculture and industrial goods and services, and that their trade ambassadors would be instructed to get back to the negotiating table.
The leaders' declaration also committed Apec to continue working towards a Pacific-wide free trade area and measures to boost economic efficiency and the business environment, protect intellectual property, improve the investment climate and fight corruption and poor governance.
It reaffirmed the fight against terrorism and proliferation of WMDs, and the development of programmes to help trade recover after a terror attack and protect food supplies from deliberate contamination.
