ABSTRACT
In Kuala Lumpur in November 1998, the Ministerial Meeting of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) failed to reach a conclusion on the Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalization (EVSL) consultations after heated and prolonged argument. As a consequence, APEC Ministers decided to call on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to take charge of the consultation process in order to maintain momentum in the liberalization negotiations. This decision had significant implications for the APEC process. As mentioned in the Introduction, the main objective of this book is to consider why the EVSL episode ended as it did. To address this issue, this chapter will focus on the statement that ‘APEC is not a negotiative but a consultative body. If there is a need for negotiation, it should be done at the table of the WTO.’ The statement was the explanation offered by Ministers when the EVSL consultations were passed to the WTO.
