2004 Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade

We, the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade, representing 21 member economies collectively responsible for 47 percent of world trade and over 50 percent of global GDP, met in Pucón, Chile, on 4 - 5 June 2004, under the chairmanship of H.E. Maria Soledad Alvear, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Chile.

The meeting was also attended by the Director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat as well as by distinguished observers from the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council; Pacific Islands Forum and the ASEAN Secretariat. The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) was represented by Mr. Hernán Somerville, Chairman of ABAC 2004.

We met under the policy theme of "A Commitment to Development through Trade and Investment" with the aim of fostering closer economic and commercial ties in the Asia Pacific region. The main policy theme supports the Chile APEC 2004 Theme of "One Community, Our Future".

In accordance with our separate statement on the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations, we emphasized the need for a successful conclusion of the DDA negotiations as strengthening the multilateral trading system is of the major importance for the achievement of Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment by all APEC member economies.

We welcomed plans for an APEC/WTO Roundtable on Trade Facilitation in Geneva, to share APEC's positive experiences in this area with non-APEC economies.

We expressed our satisfaction with the latest developments regarding the accession process of the Russian Federation and VietNam to the WTO. We recognized the importance of APEC WTO capacity building programs aimed at supporting their accession and committed ourselves to encourage the earliest possible conclusion of their accession negotiation processes. The support by the Russian Federation and VietNam to the Ministerial Statement on Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is without prejudice to their accession negotiations to the WTO.

Taking into consideration the contributions made by recently acceded Members to the WTO, their particular concerns should be given due consideration in the DDA negotiations.

In line with the recommendations of the APEC Workshop on WTO Capacity Building Best Practices, we instructed officials to identify best practices and build the capacity of APEC members in the areas of multi-stakeholder and intra-governmental consultations on trade negotiations, in order to help developing economies to fully participate in WTO DDA negotiations and enjoy the full benefits of WTO membership. We instructed officials to identify best practices and build the capacity of APEC members in the areas of multi-stakeholders and intra-governmental consultations on trade negotiations.

We noted that terrorist attacks in the APEC region and elsewhere underscore the necessity for timely and meaningful action to secure the movement of both people and goods, as well as an appropriate business environment, which are essential requirements to enhance the prosperity and security of its people.

We reiterated the commitment of APEC member economies in undertaking security measures related to trade, in areas such as air and maritime transport security. The many actions being developed in the field of trade and security attest to the fact that the Asia Pacific Region is striving -through collective action- to provide a safer environment to conduct business.

We realized the need to address the rising concerns flagged by the business community on the increasing costs generated by security-related measures. We noted that implementation of secure trade measures, particularly through effective cooperation, can lead to long-term economic efficiencies. Therefore, we underscore the importance of facilitating travel and trade while enhancing our security.

We recognized the importance of energy on economic stability and security, and called for a mechanism to be set up to promote greater coordination and exchange of information between the APEC Trade and Energy Ministers, in order to ensure that the work in both fora will complement each other to effectively and systematically tackle the ramification of higher energy prices on trade. In addition, we stressed the need for an informal linkage between APEC and OPEC to be established in order to monitor and exchange views and information on the global oil situation and therefore, be in a better position to adjust to the current, as well as any future predicament in the world oil prices.

We stressed the need to strengthen capacity building initiatives, including those aimed at supporting the implementation of air and maritime security measures and safeguarding the mobility of people, and strengthening financial systems against terrorist financing. We encourage the establishment of concrete public/private partnerships in those areas identified for action by government, business and academia representatives at the Second APEC Secure Trade in the APEC Region (STAR) Conference.

We took note of the work being undertaken by the APEC Counter Terrorism Task Force and instructed our officials to intensify their efforts to ensure APEC produces a set of concrete deliverables in 2004 in response to Leaders' Bangkok commitments.

We welcomed the substantial progress achieved in implementing the Advanced Passenger Information (API) pathfinder, and encouraged greater participation in the initiative. We were also pleased to note the exploratory work on a Regional Movement Alert system (RMAL) which has the potential to make a major contribution in enhancing regional security.

We welcomed the establishment of a Regional Trade and Financial Security Initiative within the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and encouraged member economies to contribute to the Fund. We called upon them to identify programs to be financed through the ADB as well as other International Financial Institutions that can add value to APEC's on-going work in the field of trade and security, particularly on capacity building.

We were in agreement that the overarching threat posed by terrorism should not preclude action against other menaces affecting the secure environment we want for our peoples and our trade. In particular, we stressed the need to effectively neutralize - through collaborative and concerted action - all manifestations of international organized crime, including drug trafficking, money laundering and smuggling.

We recognized the contribution that bilateral and regional free trade arrangements can make towards achieving the Bogor Goals and promoting multilateral trade liberalization. We agreed that this contribution is enhanced if regional trade arrangements are open, comprehensive and consistent with WTO rules and disciplines and APEC goals and principles. We welcomed the report of Senior Officials on their Second Policy Dialogue on FTAs/RTAs, including their decision to explore possible FTAs/RTAs best practices and develop specific measures to enhance the contribution of FTAs/RTAs to APEC's goals and principles.

1. Trade and Investment Facilitation

We welcomed progress achieved so far in the implementation of concrete measures and actions by member economies in the areas of customs, standards, business mobility and e-commerce, that will contribute to the five per cent reduction in transaction costs by 2006, as agreed by APEC Leaders in Shanghai in 2001.

Lower transaction costs will improve business competitiveness and foster economic growth. We highlighted the importance of capacity building efforts to assist APEC developing economies in implementing trade facilitation measures. We further endorsed the revised work plan on Trade and Investment Facilitation (including IPR) which lays down the framework for carrying out the Mid-Term Review and the Expanded Dialogue on Trade Facilitation to be held in September 2004, which provides for wide participation from APEC member economies, the business community, including small and medium enterprises and experts from international organizations. We committed our best efforts to take action to accelerate implementation on the basis of this review.

We instructed officials to accelerate their efforts to identify and, if necessary, undertake new work, including capacity building and greater interaction with the private sector. Such work can help develop methodologies on how to assess quantitative and qualitative reductions in transaction costs, and contribute to the full implementation of the Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP).

Regarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), we agreed that their proper protection underpins technical innovation as well as for fair competition amongst market oriented economies, thus contributing to sustainable economic development in the APEC region. We agreed that member economies should take all necessary actions to protect IPR collectively as well as individually. In order to achieve these goals, we called for the early establishment of IPR Service Centers in our economies with close cooperation among members, and instructed our officials to report on the progress of the Comprehensive Strategy on IPR in APEC, and to report on IPR Policy Progress Mapping at the APEC Ministerial Meeting in November 2004.

We welcomed the results of the Third APEC Education Ministers' Meeting, and especially their work on best practices for the teaching of English and other languages as business tools. We instructed our officials to engage all relevant fora, including the Educational Network (EDNET) in order to identify specific actions, such as building bilateral partnerships, geared towards the collective development of a Strategic Plan for English and other Languages in the APEC Region, progress of which will be reported to APEC Economic Leaders in November, 2004.

We affirmed that the Strategic Plan for English and other languages for the APEC region will encourage greater mobility and will assist SMEs and micro-enterprises in meeting the challenges posed by globalization.

2. APEC Transparency Standards

We endorsed the Transparency Standards on Government Procurement and took note of the work in progress for assessing economies' performance in incorporating Leaders' Transparency Standards into their domestic legal regimes. We emphasized the importance of demand-driven capacity building to assist all member economies in complying with the Transparency Standards, as agreed to by APEC Economic Leaders in Bangkok. We welcomed efforts underway to incorporate the Standards into the Individual Action Plan for economies to use in their IAP reporting this year.

We endorsed Senior Officials' plan to consult ABAC in developing an early harvest of concrete results on transparency in 2004, and committed to do our utmost to address the transparency issues raised by the business community by the time of the 2004 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

3. Pathfinder Initiatives

We underlined the importance of increasing economies' participation in existing pathfinder initiatives and called for their expeditious implementation in order to contribute to the achievement of the Bogor goals. Pathfinders facilitate increased trade for business and we call for the on-going development of new pathfinders initiatives.

We welcomed Australia's decision to become the eighteenth economy to participate in the Leaders' Statement to Implement APEC policies on Trade and Digital Economy. We recalled our agreement last year in Bangkok to work on the basis of economies' proposals to identify additional information technology products on which tariffs could be eliminated. We noted some Economies proposals now under consideration by officials and encouraged other economies to identify further products, including new products that have come on to the market since the Information Technology Agreement was concluded in 1996. We instructed officials to prepare a list of information technology products for consideration at the 16th APEC Ministerial Meeting.

We Ministers of economies belonging to the Trade and the Digital Economy Pathfinder encouraged other economies to join.

4. Individual and Collective Action Plans

We reaffirmed APEC's commitment to achieve the Bogor Goals through actions outlined in Collective Action Plans and member economies' Individual Action Plans.

We welcomed the completion of peer reviews of the People's Republic of China; Chile; Peru and the United States of America have undergone. We looked forward to having completed all peer reviews of Individual Action Plans by the first Senior Officials' Meeting in 2005. We took note that this process constitutes a strong instrument to assess progress towards the achievement of the Bogor Goals, in the context of the Mid Term Stock-take.

5. Structural Reform

We reaffirmed our determination to continue pursuing structural reform in the APEC region in order to ensure sustainable economic growth and development by improving economic efficiency and raise our competitiveness. We called upon officials to work towards the implementation of the APEC Structural Reform Action Plan and to report on progress achieved at the AMM in Santiago in November 2004. We instructed officials to promote synergies between the implementation of the APEC Structural Reform Action Plan and the work undertaken by APEC Finance Ministers. We welcomed progress on the preparations of the APEC High-Level Conference on Structural Reform, to be held in September 2004, and requested that officials report back on its outcomes at the AMM.

We welcomed progress in APEC's joint work with the OECD on the development of regulatory reform checklist, and looked forward to the completion of this work by the time of our meeting next year.

We instructed Officials to provide guidance to relevant fora on structural reform priorities, taking advantage of the High Level Conference on Structural Reform to be held in September 2004, in Japan.

We reaffirmed the utmost importance of economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH) as one pillar of the APEC agenda and urged our officials to develop concrete results-oriented actions to implement the ECOTECH priorities and to ensure the balanced advancement between economic and technical cooperation and trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

We underscored the importance of developing stronger links with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the private sector and engaging them in APEC's economic cooperation and capacity building activities. In improving coordination of APEC activities we acknowledged the importance of strengthening collaboration with the SME Working Group in particular.

We expressed our satisfaction with the preparations being undertaken for the Second APEC/International Financial Institutions roundtable, at the margins of the Third Senior Official Meeting. We concurred that the areas to be addressed during this meeting, SMEs, micro enterprises and Education, are fundamental to the achievement of long term economic development in the region.

The knowledge of the different languages used by our communities can contribute to create more business opportunities in the region. Therefore, we instructed Senior Officials to work with the APEC Education Network, EDNET, so as to develop with their counterparts responsible for SMEs and Tourism, a Strategic Plan for English and Other Languages in the APEC Region that takes into account each economy's context.

We took note of the intention to explore sustainable development synergies across issues such as fisheries and marine resources; tourism; forestry; biodiversity, mining, SMEs, and micro enterprises. We looked forward to the development of a comprehensive plan on sustainable development that takes into account the work being done in this area in other international fora, and to report progress to Economic Leaders in November.

We welcomed the progress in developing the evaluation frameworks for APEC projects. Such frameworks contribute to the efficient use of APEC financial resources .

We welcomed APEC Senior Official's decision to commence the Mid-term Stock take of progress in the achievement of the Bogor Goals. We urged Senior Officials to conduct a forward looking review which demonstrates the contribution that APEC has made -and will continue to make- towards regional integration, greater openness and economic growth in the Asia-Pacific Region.

1. Dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)

We welcomed the increased interaction with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), as reflected by the ABAC Chair's active participation in Senior Officials and ministerial meetings in the APEC 2004 Year, and through ABAC's recommendations..

We took note of ABAC's preliminary report to APEC Economic Leaders and requested that officials consider ABAC's recommendations on the WTO, Trade Facilitation, Transparency, FTAs/RTAs, Trade and Security and anti-corruption. We welcomed ABAC's contribution to APEC's Mid-term stock-take process, to ABACs leadership of an Expanded Dialogue on Trade Facilitation, and to ABAC's assistance in identifying priorities for early implementation of the Leaders Transparency Standards, as described in the "Early Harvest" plan.

2. Public/Private Initiatives

We welcomed the work undertaken by Officials on business related activities, in particular the positive work achieved by business and governmental representatives in the Automotive, Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Chemical and Non Ferrous Metals Dialogues.

We expressed continuing concern over the EU's proposed chemical regulations (REACH) and the adverse implications of this complex regulatory system. We also noted the relevance to our WTO priorities of the Chemical Dialogue's work to address non-tariff measures.

We welcomed the work of APEC's Life Sciences Innovation Forum in promoting global trade and investment in innovative life sciences products and services. We looked forward to reviewing its strategic plan in November.