By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun will leave for Sydney, Australia, Thursday to participate in the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum from Sept. 8-9.
He plans to hold a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin separately on the sidelines of the forum, his aides said Wednesday.
They will discuss ways of speeding up multilateral cooperation, resolving the North Korean nuclear problem and possibly establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, they said.
Roh's eighth bilateral meeting with Bush is to take place on Sept. 7 (KST) ahead of an inter-Korean summit slated for Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang.
A summit between Roh and Australian Prime Minister John Howard on bilateral economic cooperation will also be held, senior presidential secretary for foreign and security policy Yun Byung-se said.
Roh and Howard may reach an agreement to launch negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement, government sources said.
Roh also plans to hold a summit with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Peruvian President Alan Garcia.
On Sept. 8, Roh will attend the first round of multilateral summit talks among leaders from 21 member countries and deliver the position and suggestions of South Korea on the issue of global climate changes.
A presidential aide said Roh also plans to discuss with other leaders measures for early conclusion of multilateral trade talks under the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda (DDA) round.
On Sept. 9, Roh will participate in talks on an Asia-Pacific free trade zone and anti-terrorism issues, he said.
Leaders of the 21 economies will also discuss entry of new members, he said.
Roh is scheduled to return home next Monday.