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APEC may not open door to India for now

SINGAPORE: Australia on Tuesday strongly hinted that the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum may not throw its doors open to India now.

Australia will host the APEC summit in Sydney this week, and the pre-summit ministerial meeting begins there on Wednesday. The APEC forum, whose summit is described as the economic leaders’ meeting, consists of 21 economies, including non-sovereign players.

The APEC forum’s 10-year moratorium on admitting new members will expire at this meeting, and India has been generally regarded as a strong favourite. But the forum, which includes the United States and Japan as also China and Russia among others, has not yet fashioned a consensus to invite new members.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his “private view is that APEC would benefit from India being a member.” However, he said in a televised comment, “the consensus still seems short in terms of … expanding that membership.”

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APEC may not open door to India for now

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