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2017 APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea | 07 October 2017

10th APEC TRANSPORTATION MINISTERIAL MEETING

7th October 2017

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Ministerial Statement

  1. We, the Ministers responsible for transportation, met in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on the 7th October 2017 to discuss ongoing and new initiatives and pertinent issues under the theme “Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future”.
  2. We support the 2017 theme and commit to advance APEC’s overarching agenda of improving connectivity and deepening regional economic integration by promoting quality infrastructure connectivity; enhancing transportation accessibility, safety, security and sustainability; and crosscutting socio-economic improvement.
  3. We highlight the central role that transportation plays in facilitating the creation, maintenance and expansion of economic and people-to-people linkages across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as our industry’s leadership in technology commercialization, international best practices dissemination and regulatory cooperation, where the fruits of our economic activity are widely disseminated across all socio-economic levels within society, both as an employer and as a core enabler of economic activity. Quite simply, our ability to increase the safety, efficiency, reliability and accessibility of Asia-Pacific transportation is the means by which APEC will achieve many of its goals.
  4. We recall APEC Leaders’ transportation-related commitment in 2015, the most recent year that we, the Ministers responsible for transportation, met, “to develop safe, secure, resilient, efficient and sustainable transportation systems and to promote innovation in the transportation sector”. We acknowledge progress made since the 9th APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting in 2015 towards promoting accessible mobility, developing sustainable transport systems, encouraging innovation in transportation systems and promoting comprehensive and seamless connectivity.
  5. We, the Ministers and private sector CEOs had a constructive Ministers and CEOs Dialogue, on the 7th October 2017, where we had exchanges on ICAO’s efforts to facilitate sustainable growth by the global aviation industry.
  6. We will continue to work towards APEC’s goal of achieving a seamless, comprehensively connected and well-integrated Asia-Pacific by 2025 through the implementation of the APEC Connectivity Blueprint 2015-2025. We reaffirm our commitment for cross-fora collaboration in APEC to further advance the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment in the APEC region.
  7. Recognizing the fast pace of technological change, we highlight the importance of identifying, addressing and removing barriers in existing regulations to allow technology to develop in a manner that does not hamper innovation.
  8. We acknowledge the APEC Women in Transportation (WiT) Forum that met in Hue City, Viet Nam and shared knowledge and experiences on the TPTWG’s sectoral approach to encourage women’s participation in the economic life of the Asia-Pacific transportation sector and also the significant progress made by pilot economies. We note that the WiT Taskforce updated the WiT Compendium of Best Practices and we encourage economies to continue to support each other in implementing this work.
  9. We welcome the various initiatives undertaken in land, aviation and maritime modes and cross-modally in the area of intelligent transport systems including in collaboration with APEC’s Global Navigation Satellite System Implementation Team.
  10. We reiterate our commitments to improving transportation systems to facilitate the efficient flow of goods, people, services and capital in the APEC region, and we direct the TPTWG to continue to improve its work on connectivity including in the areas of aviation, land, maritime, intelligent transport systems and intermodal networks.
  11. Acknowledging and celebrating the achievements made by the TPTWG, we remain committed to supporting its efforts to catalyze meaningful, substantive solutions to transportation policy challenges that we collectively face across the Asia-Pacific region.
  12. We endorse the new structure that the TPTWG has proposed for itself, as it reflects the fact that making progress on policy challenges requires the Working Group to have a streamlined structure and efficient mechanisms for collaboration.
  13. We plan to meet again in 2020 to advance the work of the transportation sector in the APEC region.

10th Meeting of APEC Transportation Ministers - Outcomes/Actions

  1. Under the APEC Viet Nam 2017 theme “Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future,” we, the APEC Transportation Ministers gathered in Port Moresby on the 7th October 2017, draw attention to the following positive outcomes the APEC Transportation Working Group (TPTWG) has achieved and direct its future work through:

    2. Promoting Quality Infrastructure Connectivity

  2. We commend the work of the TPTWG in developing a Transportation Connectivity Map, which is an outcome of TMM8, and encourage economies to continue their work in this regard recognizing the importance of sharing the vision of the transportation network and its role in enabling broad-based economic growth, from dense urban centers to remote rural areas and everywhere in between.
  3. We encourage economies to share best practices in terms of mechanisms and programs that promote the integration by each economy of remote areas within their common transport area.
  4. We recognize the efforts of the TPTWG in implementing the transport elements of the Supply Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan and commit to promoting a seamless, safe, sustainable and reliable transportation system through intermodal connectivity, infrastructure connectivity and innovation and pursuing, as appropriate, the compatibility of policies, rules and standards.
  5. We encourage economies to advance work on expanding institutional capacity to leverage private investment to support the development, financing, maintenance and operation of quality transportation infrastructure through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). In this regard, we reiterate the importance of collaboration among the TPTWG, the Finance Ministers Process (FMP), the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) and the Investment Experts Group (IEG) within the APEC region on the topic of PPPs.
  6. We instruct the TPTWG to continue its support for the APEC Connectivity Blueprint 2015-2025 through programs that work to address chokepoints in the Asia-Pacific region’s robust and growing transportation infrastructure. Seaports, airports, rail/transit terminals, border crossings and intermodal hubs are critical touch points that link our economies and people to one another, helping to accelerate the region’s economic growth.
  7. We further instruct the TPTWG to evaluate mechanisms to better maintain, manage and operate existing transportation infrastructure so that its utility to the people and businesses of the Asia-Pacific region is both sustained and long-lasting. This includes best practices exchanges on maintenance technologies, user pricing regimes, big data and transportation planning to enhance capacity utilization.
  8. We welcome the efforts and initiatives made by the APEC Port Services Network (APSN) to facilitate cooperation and communication amongst ports and related sectors since its inception in 2008. We applaud the progress made by the APSN in promoting safety, sustainable growth and gateway port connectivity. We also recognize the ongoing efforts by the APSN to promote connectivity and sustainable growth in the APEC port industry, including the creation of the Green Port Award System (GPAS) in the past few years and we encourage all member economies to participate in this program. We are pleased to see that this program was officially launched in 2016 with seven distinguished ports awarded and note that APSN is on track to commemorate its 10th anniversary in 2018, at the APSN Forum on port connectivity in Singapore.
  9. We recommend that economies continue to pursue work on facilitating the more seamless operation of business and general aviation across the APEC region. Increased accommodation of such operations, as well as compatibility among economies in their regulatory treatment of this sector, should serve to create more opportunities for international commerce and sustainable tourism.

    10. Enhancing Transportation Accessibility, Safety, Security and Sustainability

  10. We acknowledge the progress made under the Seven Principles of Supply Chain Resiliency to improve the viability of businesses and the physical and social infrastructure of the supply chain during disaster situations. We commend the progress made by economies on disaster risk management and hazard mapping; human resource capacity building; and policy and regulations to respond more effectively post disasters.
  11. We encourage the TPTWG to continue working with other stakeholders as well as other APEC fora and international organizations, like the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to improve transport safety, security and sustainability of operators, service providers and facilities.
  12. To fulfil this goal, we encourage economies to ensure that their respective aviation safety frameworks comply with the ICAO Standards. We acknowledge the work of the TPTWG in assisting economies with the implementation of ICAO standards on Performance Based Navigation (PBN) and training of civil aviation authority personnel, and we celebrate the progress that Malaysia and The Philippines have made in their implementation of PBN as a result.
  13. We further encourage economies to utilize the latest security technology to better detect threats and facilitate efficiency so as to minimize security risks to transportation within the Asia-Pacific region.
  14. In addition, we encourage economies to ensure that their respective maritime security frameworks comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and acknowledge the work of the TPTWG in assisting economies in this regard.
  15. We commend the work underway to explore regulatory approaches for high-mass heavy-road vehicle safety, productivity and infrastructure outcomes.
  16. We draw attention to the benefits that will accrue to safe and efficient trade in the APEC region if the TPTWG can help facilitate a more harmonized approach to the labeling, handling and transport of dangerous goods across the Asia-Pacific region. We instruct the TPTWG to use the United Nations Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods as a guide to inform the capacity building and technical assistance initiatives the Working Group may undertake in this area.
  17. We recognize the importance of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) technologies in achieving seamless intermodal transportation to enhance safety, security and sustainability. Therefore, we encourage economies to pursue safe and reliable application of GNSS and regional navigation satellite systems by increasing its resiliency of GNSS services through adoption of recognized international standards and best practices across all modes of transportation and through increased cooperative use of Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) to improve GNSS accuracy, availability and integrity within the Asia Pacific region.
  18. We reaffirm our commitment to deploying advanced technologies safely, efficiently and reliably by removing barriers in existing regulations that impede innovation and competition. We commit to open dialogue with one another to facilitate information exchanges on research and data and sharing best practices that are necessary for safety regulators across the Asia-Pacific region to sufficiently evaluate these rapidly evolving technologies, such as automated and connected vehicles, intelligent transportation systems and, more broadly, the evolving relationship between humans, technology and the operation of transportation.

    19. Crosscutting Socio-Economic Improvement

  19. We encourage greater participation of women in the transportation sector and acknowledge the importance of equal access for transportation users. We commend the ongoing work of the APEC Women in Transportation (WiT) Task Force and encourage member economies to continue to implement the WiT activities going forward.
  20. We commend the work initiated on human trafficking and encourage the TPTWG to continue to discourage the use of any transportation network by human traffickers within and across our borders. By training the general public, transportation service providers and APEC transportation ministries to identify human trafficking that is hidden in plain sight, we can save lives, halt illicit economic activity, help report instances of human trafficking to the proper law enforcement authorities and demonstrate our integral role in the wellbeing of our respective societies.
  21. We reiterate the importance of competent human resources in creating a safe, secure, reliable, effective and seamless transport system in the APEC region. Therefore, we encourage collaboration by APEC economies in developing joint personnel training.

    22. New Structure of the TPTWG

  22. We welcome the outcomes of the review of the TPTWG that was undertaken as a result of our request at the 9th APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting in 2015. We direct the TPTWG to adopt the outcomes of the review at the start of Papua New Guinea’s 2018 APEC Host Year. We instruct the TPTWG to be mindful of the need for it to structure itself in a way that maximizes meaningful outcomes. Consequently, we encourage it to periodically review its own internal operations, structure and procedures in order to maintain its ongoing efficiency and effectiveness.