1996 APEC Ministerial Meeting on Telecommunications & Information Industry

1. A Meeting of APEC Ministers responsible for the Telecommunications and Information Industry was convened at the Gold Coast, Australia, 5-6 September 1996. Delegates from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and the United States of America participated in the Meeting.

2. A representative of the APEC Secretariat and an observer from the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) were present at the meeting.

3. The Meeting was chaired by Senator the Hon. Richard Alston, Minister for Communications and the Arts, Australia.

4. Ministers reviewed actions taken toward making the telecommunications and information sector a "model" sector in achieving the goals set by the APEC Economic Leaders at Bogor - strengthening the open multilateral trading system, enhancing trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation in the Asia-Pacific, intensifying development cooperation and improving the Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII).

5. Ministers discussed the APEC Economic Leaders' Action Agenda, agreed at Osaka in November 1995 and reviewed the progress made toward the implementation of the Action Plan for the APII adopted at their first meeting in May 1995.

6. Ministers expressed the conviction that the five objectives and ten core principles of the APII remain a sound basis for cooperation, and confirmed their continuing resolve to strengthen cooperation at every level for the development of the APII in an effective and balanced manner for regional and global prosperity.

7. Ministers applauded the efforts made by Korea since their hosting of the First APEC Ministerial Meeting on Telecommunications and Information Industry to advance the progress of the APII. In particular, they recorded their appreciation of the Test-bed Forum held in Seoul which had been successful in developing a number of cooperative APII activities. Ministers welcomed the establishment of APII pilot project criteria by the APEC Telecommunications Working Group (TEL WG) for endorsement of future projects using APEC budget resources and the growing range of cooperative activities and pilot projects toward the development of the APII. The importance of moving from the conceptual to the implementation stage, and of developing collaborative services in the areas of business, education, health and rural development was stressed, to ensure that the benefits of the APII are available to the many people of the APEC region.

8. Ministers discussed the APEC agenda for trade and investment liberalisation and facilitaion, and for economic and technical cooperation, noting the mutually reinforcing character of this agenda, especially in the telecommunications and information sector, as expressed in many initiatives for cooperative activity toward the development of the APII. Just as the development of telecommunications and information services is facilitated by the liberalisation of trade and investment, so also economic and technical cooperation supports the implementation of liberalisation, and the development of the telecommunications and information infrastructure, to the benefit of the wider economy. They endorsed the importance of ensuring that these benefits were evident in wider access to telecommunications and information services, greater competition in the supply of goods and services, and reduced costs to business and individual users of telecommunications and information services.

9. Ministers welcomed the expansion of collective actions for trade and investment liberalisation in the telecommunications and information sector, including conformance by 1998 by almost all of the economies with guidelines for trade in international value-added network services (IVANS) and finalisation by 1997 of a model mutual recognition arrangement for trade in telecommunications equipment. Ministers recognised the Reference List of Elements of a Fully Liberalised Telecommunications Services Sector adopted by the TEL WG as representing elements expected to be present in each economy by or before the Bogor Declaration liberalisation timetable.

10. Ministers also welcomed the TEL WG's recommendation of the Comprehensive Reference List of Actions as a resource paper for economies to consider in developing their Individual Action Plans and individual sectoral programs for liberalisation, recognising that economies have not endorsed any particular item and are not committed to any particular item. They noted the need to consider plans as soon as practicable for collective actions to liberalise the telecommunications and information sector. In line with the Osaka Action Agenda and in the spirit of the Bogor Declaration, they recognised that a successful conclusion to the negotiations in the WTO Group on Basic Telecommunications requires the broadest possible participation by all WTO APEC member economies and the submission of new or improved offers prior to the Singapore Ministerial in December 1996.

11. Ministers, noting the importance of technical and development cooperation as a tool to achieve the objectives of the Bogor Declaration and Osaka Action Agenda on the liberalisation and development of the APII encouraged developed economies to emphasis their roles in the TEL WG on development cooperation as well as human resource development programs in order to enhance the level of development among APEC economies in the area of telecommunications.

12. Ministers noted with appreciation the updated report on the telecommunications structural and regulatory arrangements in APEC economies.

13. Ministers also noted with appreciation the vigorous promotion of electronic commerce to accelerate the growth of regional trade and development. They recognised the positive value of electronic commerce as a boost to the efficiency of trading enterprises especially small and medium-sized enterprises in a multi-economy market. They agreed to support continued efforts to develop cooperative activities in these areas, and to identify the environment required for the promotion of business/private sector investment in telecommunications.

14. Ministers strongly endorsed the energetic commitment of the TEL WG to human resource development, noting that human resource development is a fundamental element of the whole APEC agenda for trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, and for economic and technical cooperation. They appreciated the advances made in completing the Model Vocational Education and Training Framework for Telecommunications and agreed to encourage continued efforts to expand the effectiveness of human resource development efforts in the region through training courses, distance learning, resource sharing, personnel exchanges and the on-going development of skill standards.

15. Ministers applauded the increased participation by the business/private sector in the TEL WG meetings and work program. They recognised that under the Bogor Declaration a strengthening of the partnership between government and business/industry is required as the APEC process moves forward toward open trade and investment. They agreed to support the continuation of the APEC/PECC Policy Dialogue within the TEL WG and expanded involvement by the business/private sector in future Ministerial meetings.

16. Ministers welcomed the completion of the Practical Manual for Network Planning and the growing range and quality of economic and technical cooperation activities, especially in projects to enhance access to and benefits from the APII. They underlined the importance of ensuring that developing economies benefit from the enhancement of telecommunications and information infrastructure.

17. Ministers said that they would continue to cooperate in promoting the development of member economies' domestic information infrastructure, the APII and the APEC Economic Leaders objectives in the telecommunications and information sector.

18. Ministers recognised that in addition to health care, education and small and medium enterprises, the telecommunication and information technologies also have an important role to play in protecting the environment, and that the latest telecommunication and information technologies can be extremely useful in implementing and conducting environment protection activities.

19. With that purpose in mind, Ministers adopted a Gold Coast Declaration containing a Program of Action to guide further APEC activities in the sector, including activities of the TEL WG, and to provide sectoral input to the meeting of APEC Economic Leaders to be held in the Philippines in November 1996.

20. Ministers noted with appreciation the report from Professor Mark Armstrong, Chairman of the Industry Forum held before the Ministerial Meeting. The report conveyed to Ministers the range of views expressed by business representatives from most of the APEC economies on the policy issues relevant to the growth and development of the telecommunications and information industry, and ways in which cooperation between APEC member economies could assist in resolving the issues.

21. Ministers agreed to hold a third Ministerial Meeting on the Telecommunications and Information Industry to review progress in the implementation of the Program of Action. Ministers welcomed the offer by Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for Communications of the Republic of Singapore, to host the Third APEC Ministerial Meeting on Telecommunications and Information Industry in Singapore in 1998.