-
CLOSING ADDRESSES AND INVITATION TO THE APEC CEO SUMMIT 2014 IN CHINA
2013 APEC Ministerial Meeting - Joint Ministerial Statement
Monday, 7 October 2013, 9:51 am
Press Release: APEC
Bali, Indonesia, 5 Oct 2013
2013 APEC Ministerial
Meeting
Joint Ministerial Statement
1. We, the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers, met on
4-5 October 2013, in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting was
co-chaired by H.E. R.M. Marty M. Natalegawa, Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Indonesia and H.E. Gita Wirjawan,
Minister for Trade of Indonesia.
2. We welcomed the
participation in the meeting of Director General of the WTO,
Chair of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC),
Secretary General of ASEAN, co-chairs of the Pacific
Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), representative of the
Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and representative of the
Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
3. We assembled today
to reiterate our shared commitment towards a seamless
regional economy and to continue our course to integrate to
grow and to innovate to prosper. We reviewed the current
state of affairs in the Asia-Pacific region, assessed the
progress made this year, and discussed the way forward for
APEC to ensure the Asia-Pacific region remains resilient and
to fulfill our role as the engine of the global growth.
Under the APEC 2013 theme of “Resilient Asia Pacific,
Engine of Global Growth,” we are committed to deepen our
efforts towards attaining the Bogor Goals, promoting
connectivity, and achieving sustainable growth with
equity.
State of the Region
4. Our
economies have taken a number of important policy actions
that have helped to contain key tail risks, improve
financial market conditions and sustain the recovery.
Nevertheless, global growth is too weak, risks remain titled
to the downside, and the economic outlook suggests growth is
likely to be slower and less balanced than desired. We
recognized the importance of a comprehensive series of
structural reforms so to increase productivity, labor force
participation and high quality job creation. We will work
to achieve stronger and sustainable recovery by, among
others, ensuring fiscal sustainability, building human
capacity through education and training, boosting domestic
sources of growth, increasing domestic savings, providing
sources of trade financing and enhancing
competitiveness.
5. We are committed to strengthening
transparency and sharing information on macroeconomic
policies, and to working together to promote common
development in Asia-Pacific region.
6. We are determined
to strengthen our cooperation to realize a strong and
resilient region with the ability to recover swiftly from
economic turbulence, so our region could contribute as the
locomotive of global economic growth. With this in mind, we
discussed the following outcomes under APEC 2013’s
priority areas.
APEC in the Evolving Cooperative
Architecture
7. We reviewed Asia Pacific’s
cooperation architecture and noted the development and
growing numbers of international and regional cooperation
fora and processes. We underscored the importance of
enhancing APEC’s deeper engagement, mutual reinforcement,
synergy and complementarity with these processes so as to
ensure a more effective approach in solving complex
cross-border challenges, as well as to seize opportunities,
such as sustainable development and connectivity. We tasked
officials to discuss and make concrete suggestions on ways
to take this forward in 2014.
Attaining the Bogor
Goals
8. We reaffirmed our commitment to
attaining the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and
investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2020 and to address the
work that remains to be done as identified in 2010. We
welcomed the progress made this year in supporting the
multilateral trading system and strengthening and deepening
our regional economic integration by addressing barriers to
trade and investment. We endorsed the 2013 APEC Committee on
Trade and Investment (CTI) Annual Report to
Ministers.
Supporting the Multilateral Trading
System
9. We exchanged views on efforts to strengthen
the multilateral trading system, and we highly valued the
update by the Director General of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) on the current state of WTO negotiations
and preparations for the 9th Ministerial Conference in
Bali.
10. We reaffirmed our commitment to keep markets
open and to refrain from raising new barriers to investment
or to trade in goods and services, imposing new export
restrictions, or implementing WTO-inconsistent measures in
all areas, including those that stimulate exports. In
support of this commitment, we recommended that our Leaders
extend through the end of 2016 our standstill commitment to
fight against protectionist measures and our resolve to roll
back protectionist and trade distorting measures.
11. We
reaffirmed our commitment to the rules based multilateral
trading system and the WTO as its preeminent forum. In this
regard, we reiterated our collective resolve to achieve
successful and balanced outcomes at the 9th WTO Ministerial
Conference in Bali, including agreement on trade
facilitation, some elements of agriculture and development,
including issues of interest to LDCs. Success at Bali would
provide a stepping stone to the full conclusion of DDA,
consistent with its mandate and its development dimension.
We support the new intensified WTO workplan set out by the
Director General and urged Members to come to the table with
flexibility and political will.
12. We encouraged the
swift conclusion of negotiations to expand product coverage
of the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) before
MC9, and also seek expanded membership of the ITA. A final
ITA expansion outcome should be commercially significant,
credible, pragmatic, balanced, and reflective of the dynamic
technological developments in the information technology
sector over the last 16 years. Such an outcome would
strengthen the multilateral trading system, promote
connectivity, support regional economic integration, and
drive economic development throughout APEC economies and
beyond.
13. We recognized accession of new members to the
WTO on appropriate terms as one of the priorities for the
WTO, which leads to enhanced openness of the markets and
thus increased opportunities for both present members and
acceding countries. We emphasized the utmost importance of
moving forward negotiations on accessions towards their
finalization as a supportive symbol of credibility and
strength of the WTO as a cornerstone of the multilateral
trading system.
Advancing Trade and Investment
Liberalization
14. In promoting stronger and deeper
regional economic integration and advancing work in trade
and investment liberalization, we will continue to work to
achieve sustainable, balanced, inclusive, and innovative
growth in the Asia-Pacific region and take steps to advance
towards achievement of a Free Trade Area of the Asia
Pacific. We highlighted the importance of assisting
developing economies to achieve the Bogor Goals by 2020
while working to ensure the benefits of liberalization are
shared by all. We also encouraged developed economies to
take more concrete actions towards attaining Bogor Goals,
according to the outcomes of the Report on APEC’s 2010
Economies’ Progress towards the Bogor Goals.
15. We
recalled the Leaders’ commitment in 2010 to undertake
concrete, practical, and measurable steps to realize an
economically-integrated community in APEC. We instructed
officials to review in 2014 our progress towards the Bogor
Goals by providing complete information in the Individual
Action Plans as directed by the Bogor Goals Progress Report
Guidelines endorsed in 2011.
16. We reaffirmed the pledge
made by our Leaders in Honolulu 2011 and Vladivostok 2012
against protectionism and rollback of protectionist and
trade-distorting measures. We welcomed the individual
progress made by APEC economies on non-tariff measures
(NTMs) and instructed our official to advance their work to
address them.
17. In 2012, we instructed officials to
further study in 2013 the impact of local content
requirements (LCRs) on regional integration and economic
growth, and to discuss trade enhancing ways through which
economies can promote job creation and competitiveness
goals. In 2013, to fulfill this instruction, we agreed on
the APEC Best Practices to Create Jobs and Increase
Competitiveness (see Annex F).
Promoting Trade in
Services
18. We recognized the critical contribution
of services to global trade, and the importance of strong,
open and competitive service sectors as drivers of economic
activity, growth and job creation. We welcomed APEC’s
ongoing work to increase the transparency of services
trade-related regulations as well as to identify good
practices to facilitate services trade and investment and
foster the development of open services markets. We
commended the practical, business-oriented work examining
regulation, trade and investment in various services sectors
across the APEC region, including in the areas of financial
services, cross-border education, retail services and
logistics services.
19. We welcomed the expansion of the
APEC Services Trade Access Requirements (STAR) Database and
encouraged the further development of this resource as an
important tool for business in accessing new services export
markets. We also welcomed APEC’s work on improving
statistical data collection on services trade, including
implementation of the Action Plan on Statistics on Trade in
Services, recognizing that the importance of services is not
adequately reflected in traditional trade
statistics.
20. We welcomed the public-private dialogue on
services conducted this year and encouraged further
engagement between government, private sector and academia
to address impediments to services trade growth in the
Asia-Pacific region, including through conducting similar
public-private dialogues in the future.
Facilitating
Investment
21. We encouraged economies to strengthen
ways and means to increase investment flows and maintain
economic growth in the Asia-Pacific. To this end, we
welcomed the progress made by economies in implementing the
APEC Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP).
22. We
welcomed the public-private dialogue on Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) and case studies on sustainable
investment, and encourage officials to work with the
private sector to build and improve upon CSR
practices.
Promoting Green Growth
23. We
endorsed the Proposal on Capacity-Building Activities to
Assist Implementation of APEC’s Environmental Goods
Commitments, and instruct officials to focus
capacity-building where needed as economies implement the
APEC Leaders’ commitment to reduce tariffs on the 54
products in the APEC List of Environmental Goods.
24. We
established APEC Public-Private Partnership on Environmental
Goods and Services (PPEGS), and instructed officials to use
this new forum as a platform for enhanced dialogue in this
sector. We look forward to the first meeting of the PPEGS
and to the dialogue on clean and renewable energy in 2014.
25. We committed to strengthen regional cooperation on
trade and environmental matters in the region and to share
our practices for RTAs in this area.
26. We recognized the
importance of additional work to explore trade in goods,
which contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth through
rural development and poverty alleviation. We instructed
officials to carry out a PSU study on this
topic.
Promoting Industrial Dialogues on Automotives,
Life Sciences and Chemicals
27. We underscored the
importance of promoting dialogues with industrial partners
to enrich our discussion and provide concrete deliverables
and innovative solutions to contribute to attaining the
Bogor Goals.
28. We noted work to enhance the
participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the
automotive sector and instructed officials to develop ways
to facilitate trade and investment in green automotive
technologies.
29. We welcomed the continued progress to
align and strengthen regulatory procedures for medical
products (both drugs and devices) according to international
best practices. This includes steps to promote regulatory
sciences through the establishment of an Innovative Center
of Excellence for the evaluation of multi-regional clinical
trials, partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO)
on the development of a Good Review Practices document and
continued progress in implementing the multi-year roadmap on
medical product quality and supply chain integrity.
30. We
also welcomed the Chemical Regulator’s Forum Action Plan
for 2014 to 2015, and welcomed work on regulatory
cooperation and convergence; participation in the
establishment of the global non mandatory list of chemicals
classified according to the Global Harmonized System of
classification and labeling of chemicals (GHS) lead by UN
Sub-Committee of Experts on GHS; strengthening industry’s
role as an innovative solutions provider; and chemical
product stewardship, safe use and sustainability.
Addressing Next Generation Trade and Investment
Issues
31. We remain committed to address the
next-generation trade and investment issues as one of the
important steps to achieving the Bogor Goals and to our work
to provide leadership and intellectual input into the
process of developing Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific
(FTAAP). We instructed officials to continue to address the
2011 and 2012 next generation trade and investment issues.
including by finalizing the APEC Innovation and Trade
Implementation Practices as soon as possible. We also
encouraged economies to identify additional next generation
trade and investment issues for work in 2014 and beyond.
Exploring a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific
(FTAAP)
32. We reaffirm our commitment to achieve a
Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, including by continuing
APEC’s work to provide leadership and intellectual input
into the process of regional economic integration. APEC has
an important role to play in coordinating information
sharing, transparency, and capacity buuilding, and will hold
a policy dialogue on regional RTA/FTAs. We agreed to enhance
communication among regional RTAs/FTAs, as well as increase
the capacity of APEC economies to engage in substantive
negotiations.
33. We encouraged officials to advance the
Regional Economic Integration (REI) Capacity-building Needs
Initiative (CBNI) Action Plan Framework including in the
areas of non-conforming measures, government procurement,
safeguards, and dispute settlement proceedings, as a key
delivery mechanism for the technical assistance needed to
one day make the FTAAP a reality.
Facilitating Trade
Financing
34. We recognized that increasing trade
finance and risk reduction during crisis is important to
support global recovery and growth. We welcomed the study by
APEC Policy Support Unit based on its survey on the recent
trends in trade finance in the region. We recognized the
work of the Basel Committee to ensure appropriate risk
weights for financing activities, including trade finance.
We also noted that SMEs face a number of obstacles in
accessing finance related to their limited resources and
perceived risks by lenders. We encourage financial
institutions to enhance trade financing and continue to
support trade in the Asia-Pacific region.
Promoting Connectivity
35. We
reiterated our Leaders’ commitment in 2010 that envisioned
the realization of an APEC community. We shared the view
that seamless physical, institutional, and people-to-people
connectivity are critical prerequisites to achieve the Bogor
Goals and attain the APEC community vision. We welcomed the
progress made in promoting connectivity in APEC in 2013, and
submitted a strategic and long-term APEC Framework on
Connectivity to be adopted by Leaders.
36. We welcomed the
study on the current state of our connectivity by the APEC
Policy Support Unit (PSU). We encouraged economies to take
into account the findings as the basis of future endeavor
under the Framework.
Promoting Infrastructure
Development and Investment
37. We recognized the
importance of well-designed, sustainable and resilient
physical infrastructure in enhancing the connectivity of our
region, addressing supply-chain chokepoints, increasing
productivity, and providing significant positive flow-on
effects including in access to markets, job creation and
economic growth across sectors.
38. We endorsed the
multi-year plan on infrastructure development and investment
that aims to assist economies to improve the investment
environment, promote public-private partnerships, and
enhance government capacity and coordination in preparing
and executing infrastructure projects. Improvement in these
areas would increase the supply of commercially viable
projects. We highlighted the importance of an APEC-wide
approach in carrying the work forward in the 2013-2016
period and submitted the APEC Multi-Year Plan on
Infrastructure Development and Investment to be adopted by
Leaders.
39. We recognized the uneven financing capacity
across APEC region in the public sector. We also noted the
growing importance of the role of private sector in
infrastructure development and investment. We encouraged
efforts to strengthen partnership involving government,
private sector and international institutions to explore and
improve infrastructure financing and investment. In this
light, we welcomed the development of Public-Private
Partnership Guidebook as a tool to facilitate the
development and investment in infrastructure through
providing a general overview of APEC economies’ PPP
processes and requirements and the practical guidance that
this may offer the APEC PPP Expert Advisory Panel and pilot
PPP centre in Indonesia that Finance Ministers agreed to
establish in September 2013.
Improving Supply-Chain
Performance
40. We welcomed the 2013 interim
assessment of the Supply-Chain Connectivity Framework Action
Plan. Under the Systematic Approach to Supply Chain
Performance Improvements, we endorsed the inventories of
supply chain policy recommendations for all eight Supply
Chain Framework Action Plan (SCFAP) Chokepoints, and
instructed officials to complete diagnostic reports for all
eight SCFAP Chokepoints; draft a comprehensive capacity
building plan; and begin targeted, focused capacity building
activities in economies in 2014.
41. We recognized the
contribution that global data standards can make to
enhancing supply chain efficiency, and welcomed ABAC’s
contribution in this area. As APEC economies further develop
data standards frameworks, we encourage officials to explore
what more can be done to facilitate mutual compatibility
amongst data standards frameworks, and the compatibility of
economies’ frameworks with the use of global data
standards.
42. We underscored the importance of enhancing
value chain resilience, and advancing work to establish more
interconnected and resilient APEC region. We emphasized the
importance of evaluating various value chain risks and
addressing them through effective risk management and
response. We instructed officials to continue to work on
this area. We will explore further work in 2014 on the
benefit of the development of global value chains, including
on the interconnection of supply chains and value chains, so
to promote the development of new industries for
Asia-Pacific growth.
43. We recognized the continuing
threat of terrorism in the Asia-Pacific region and the
importance of mitigating this threat as we seek to achieve
APEC’s vision and objectives. We recalled our Leaders’
commitment in 2011 to make regional commerce and travel more
secure, efficient, and resilient. We reiterated our
commitment to APEC’s Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and
Secure Trade Strategy, which takes a comprehensive
integrated approach to ensuring the resilience of regional
commerce by enhancing the ability of member economies to
protect their economic systems, recover rapidly from
disruptions, and maintain the flow of legitimate trade and
travel. We encouraged economies to implement the Strategy,
including through capacity building initiatives that support
secure regional supply chains, travel, finance and
infrastructure. We also noted the importance of continued
and close cooperation with the private sector and relevant
multilateral organizations in implementing the
Strategy.
Enhancing Transportation Infrastructure and
Developing Quality Transport
44. We reaffirmed our
commitment in 2012 to continue exploring opportunities for
diversifying and optimizing transportation and supply chain
routes across all modes. We welcomed the outcomes of the
APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting held in September
2013, in Tokyo, Japan that reaffirmed our commitment to
improving transportation systems to ease the flow of goods,
people, services, and capital in the Asia Pacific through
developing a transportation “Connectivity Map” and
“Quality Transport” vision and sharing experiences and
best practices in enhancing transportation infrastructure
investment. We encouraged further collaboration by relevant
fora in APEC in promoting well-designed, sustainable and
resilient transportation infrastructure, as well as
convenient, efficient, safe, secure, and sustainable
transport in the region. We welcomed the view of our
Transport Ministers on the APEC Business Aviation Core
Principles that outline best practices in the economic
treatment of international business aviation operations, and
that an open and liberal international aviation regime is
conducive to commercial and economic growth.
Advancing
Regulatory Coherence and Cooperation
45. We welcomed
the progress made by economies towards implementing the 2011
APEC Leaders’ commitment to strengthen the implementation
of Good Regulatory Practices (GRPs) by ensuring internal
coordination of rule-making, assessing the impact of
regulations, and conducting public consultations on proposed
regulations. We instructed officials to continue carrying
out related capacity-building and information sharing
activities on voluntary basis so as to create a high-quality
regulatory environment, and advance regulatory coherence and
cooperation, taking into account different economies'
circumstances. We instructed officials to report on progress
made in undertaking this goal in 2014 and 2015. We welcomed
the results of the 2013 update to the “Baseline Study of
Good Regulatory Practices in APEC Member Economies and
instruct officials to update the study by SOM3 2015.
46. We encouraged interested economies to explore the
possibility of using additional tools to strengthen their
implementation of good regulatory practices, including
single on-line locations for regulatory information,
prospective regulatory planning, including regulatory
agendas, and retrospective reviews of existing regulations.
We instructed officials to develop capacity-building
programs to assist APEC economies in improving their
understanding on these tools.
47. We welcomed the
mid-term report on progress made by economies in their
efforts to achieve structural reform under the APEC New
Strategy on Structural Reform (ANSSR) agenda. We highlighted
the importance of identifying common challenges and
opportunities in implementing the ANSSR, and encouraged
economies to share experiences as a reference for other
economies. We instructed officials to continue to
collaborate to build more effective and targeted
capacity-building initiatives to assist economies to achieve
their individual ANSSR targets by the end of 2015.
48. We
reaffirmed our commitment to make doing business in the APEC
region cheaper, faster and easier. We noted the progress
economies are making towards the five percent interim target
under the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) agenda by the end of
2013. We recognized that APEC-wide adoption of the Hague
Apostille Convention would facilitate APEC’s EoDB targets
in the area of trading across borders and advance
institutional connectivity among APEC authorities, and we
encouraged wider participation in the Hague Apostille
Convention. We instructed officials to take into account the
findings in the APEC Economic Policy Report on Ease of Doing
Business and the PSU Report on EoDB Interim Assessment
2009-2012, and to continue capacity-building activities to
assist economies to achieve the aspirational goal of a 25
percent improvement in EoDB by 2015.
49. We encouraged
economies to explore the possibility of implementing a one
stop shop for online transaction and to provide all the
procedures and services to open a business and other
procedures and services required to export and e-commerce
across boundaries to promote the easiness of doing
business.
50. We recognized the work on regulatory
approaches on reducing technical barriers to trade and
fostering greater regulatory cooperation in the region
including through the revised APEC Regulatory Cooperation
Advancement Mechanism (ARCAM) on Trade-Related Standards and
Technical Regulations and we welcomed discussions on
electric vehicles as the topic for the 2014 ARCAM Dialogue.
We look forward to the progression of work on advertising
standards in the region.
51. Recognizing the work to help
implement the APEC Growth Strategy and the ANSSR, we
welcomed the APEC Economic Policy Report on Promoting Fiscal
Transparency and Public Accountability. We highlighted the
importance of building mechanisms and institutions that help
citizens to reduce the costs of obtaining information on
fiscal policy and foster transparency and promote public
accountability.
Enhancing Customs
Procedures
52. We noted the importance of enhancing
cooperation in efforts to simplify customs procedures to be
in line with international standards, such as those
developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO). We
welcomed the progress in the development of Single Window
Systems in each APEC economy towards the promotion of
interoperability amongst economies’ Single Window Systems
and the work regarding transit and suggested guidelines to
enhance our institutional connectivity. We welcomed the
formation of a Virtual Customs Business Working Group in
APEC to enhance collaboration with the private sector on
customs-related issues. We welcomed the continued voluntary
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement operation, as
well as the work for IPR border enforcement capacity
building activities. We recognized the continued work to
build capacity for implementing Authorized Economic Operator
(AEO) programs throughout the APEC region in line with the
WCO/APEC SAFE Framework of Standards, which contribute to
security and facilitation of customs procedures. We
supported the work to improve customs risk management for
more efficient control on cargo movement, and supported the
initiative for future implementation of the Passenger Name
Record (PNR) GOV for better passenger profiling whilst
providing travel facilitation. We encouraged economies to
further implement activities related to capacity-building
and sharing of best practices to address at-the-border
barriers.
Promoting Cross-Border Privacy
Rules
53. We welcomed further work to enhance
cooperation in promoting cross border privacy rules and
encouraged member Economies to participate in the Cross
Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) System on a voluntary basis, as
agreed by APEC Leaders in 2011, to reduce barriers to
information flows, enhance consumer privacy, and promote
interoperability across regional data privacy
regimes.
Promoting Cross Border Education
Cooperation
54. Increasing cross-border education
cooperation will strengthen regional ties, build
people-to-people exchanges, and promote economic development
through knowledge and skills transfer. We reiterated the
role of education as the pre-eminent source of economic
development in the 21st century in creating more and higher
quality jobs and bolstering productivity and growth. We
welcomed the work in APEC to fulfill the 2012 APEC
Leaders’ commitment on promoting cross-border education
through a Work Plan on Promoting Cross-Border Education
Cooperation on a voluntary basis and consistent with
individual economies’ circumstances, and 2013 vision of 1
million intra-APEC university-level students per year by
2020. We instructed APEC officials to implement related
cross-cutting activities in the work plan to further enhance
the mobility of students, researchers, and education
providers, as well as the existing network of bilateral
agreements (see Annex A). We welcomed Viet Nam’s intention
to host the 14th Human Resources Development Ministerial
Meeting (HRDMM) in 2014.
Facilitating Emergency
Response Travel
55. We recognized the importance and
urgency for APEC Economies to share information, experiences
and best practices in the area of emergency response in
times of natural disasters. Thus, we welcomed and supported
the Emergency Response Travel Facilitation (ERTF) initiative
aimed at identifying facilitation arrangements that would
ensure the ease of mobility for emergency responders and
their personal equipment, as well as for the business
community to take part in the post disaster business
recovery (see Annex B). We instructed officials to develop a
work plan on ERTF and to set ERTF as a continuing working
agenda item in relevant APEC fora. We also welcomed the
outcomes of the 7th Senior Disaster Management Official
Forum (SDMOF) held in Bali, August 2013.
Enhancing
People Mobility
56. We underlined the significance of
facilitating the travel of business persons as a way to
enhance economic activities and promote people-to-people
connectivity. Hence, we committed to further enhance the
APEC Business Travel Card scheme. In particular we welcomed
the APEC-funded project for an End to End Review of the
Scheme to identify further opportunities for enhancement. We
welcomed Russia’s full participation in the scheme.
57. We recognized the increasing role of the tourism
sector in the Asia-Pacific region
as a vehicle for
quality job creation, economic growth, and development. We
welcomed the outcomes of the High Level Policy Dialogue on
Travel Facilitation held in October 2013, in Bali,
Indonesia. We will advance our work to further promote
travel facilitation in the region through leveraging new
technology, as appropriate, to the visa requirements of each
economy; enhance capabilities to further develop systems of
Advance Passenger Information and noted the potential of
Trusted Traveler Programs; and promote Tourist Friendly
Airports as part of the Airport Partnership Program,
including by showcasing their locality, uniqueness, and
authenticity. These efforts are aimed at expediting the
movement of travelers, enabling more efficient, more secure,
and less stressful travel, and promoting a free flow of
tourists within the APEC region.
Promoting Joint
Endeavors
58. We welcomed the intellectual inputs
provided by our scholars at the APEC Study Centre Consortium
Conference 2013. We instructed officials to enhance their
engagement with academics to broaden our perspectives and to
give more depth to our discussion in APEC. We welcomed the
active participation of our youth and young entrepreneurs at
the APEC 2013 Youth Summit, and recommendations that
resulted from the event. Such joint endeavors are essential
in promoting people-to-people connectivity and enhancing the
sense of community in APEC. We encouraged the continuation
of youth engagement in APEC through similar events in the
coming years.
Sustainable Growth with
Equity
59. Consistent with the 2010 APEC
Leaders’ Growth Strategy, we have enhanced our efforts on
achieving sustainable growth with equity to ensure a better
quality of growth, through strengthening cooperation in the
areas of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs),
women’s economic empowerment, health, ocean, food
security, renewable energy, financial inclusion, as well as
science, technology and innovation.
Empowering Women
and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
60. We
recognized the important role of women in the economy to
generate employment, drive production and innovation, and
contribute to economic development and poverty alleviation.
We encouraged work to facilitate women’s participation in
the economy, by incorporating gender consideration in
structural reform practices, developing ICT tools and
services which enable women to better participate in the
economy, expanding access to social protection programs,
providing equal access to quality education and employment
opportunities, and developing supporting infrastructure that
facilitates women’s participation in the labour market at
all levels including leadership positions. We welcomed the
collaborative work undertaken to highlight the importance of
women’s leadership in the transportation sector, and look
to the work as a model for how women’s economic
empowerment can be integrated into the objectives of broader
APEC fora.
61. We appreciated the convening of the first
conference and the public-private partnership network
meeting on Innovation for Women and Economic Development. We
welcomed the commencement of a multi-year project to
facilitate sustainable new business models and policy
environment for women, and to address impediments in
bridging ICT access gender gap.
62. In supporting women
in SMEs in their tremendous endeavor, we welcomed the first
collaborative efforts by the Women and SME Ministers to
encourage joint work in the areas of promotion of
entrepreneurial culture and increasing access to finance and
markets for women owned and operated SMEs and promotion of
SME’s internationalization through financial education,
financial literacy, and greater consumer protection and
awareness. We recommended that greater collaborative work to
expand financial inclusion to women be undertaken by the
private sector and officials from finance, education,
central banks, and telecommunication ministries. We
recognized the policy and program recommendations to advance
women's access to markets by leveraging government
procurement opportunities and support greater work by both
the public and private sector to build women entrepreneurs
skills and capacity to obtain these opportunities.
63. We
welcomed collaboration between the Policy Partnership on
Women and the Economy and the SME Working Group to take
forward this agenda and initiate projects and concrete
actions that will benefit women’s SMEs.
64. Recognizing
the importance of enhancing APEC SMEs’ resilience to
natural disasters, we encouraged economies to collaborate
with the private sector to strengthen SME business
continuity planning (BCP), and advance joint efforts to
build more resilient communities and businesses.
65. We
acknowledged the importance of an enabling environment to
accelerate startups and boost development of SMEs. We
instructed officials to advance work that foster an
entrepreneurial culture and improves the competitiveness of
our SMEs to expand to the international market. We
underlined the importance of improvement of each economy’s
business environment to reach out to the international
market with Win-Win relationships. We recognized the need
for sex-disaggregated data to enable the public and private
sector to effectively measure the impact of market
interventions to advance women’s entrepreneurship. We
encouraged work to promote “One Village One Product”
that will facilitate women’s entrepreneurship and foster
creativity and productivity among SMEs.
Promoting
Financial Inclusion
66. We recognized the importance
of financial inclusion to achieving equality and enhancing
growth potential in the region. We commit to promote
awareness and enhance access, eligibility and capacity of
poor households and small-and-medium sized enterprises
(SMEs) to interact with financial institutions, together
with efforts to develop financial literacy and strengthen
consumer protection. We welcomed the guiding principles to
implement optimal and innovative approaches to promote
financial eligibility of the poor and SMEs through
innovative distribution channels such as branchless
banking.
Promoting Labour and Social
Protection
67. We reaffirmed our Leaders commitment
in 2010 to promote inclusive growth in APEC region by
promoting job creation, human resource development and
active labour market policies. We also recognized the
importance of close consultation with all sectors of our
societies, including business, labour, women, and youth. To
this end, we will continue to achieve full and productive
employment, and promoting social protection and decent work
for all.
Promoting Sustainable
Healthcare
68. We recognized that health plays an
important role as the driver of economic development. We
also recognized the role of innovation and innovative
approaches, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder
collaboration, and public private partnerships in APEC in
ensuring the physical and mental health of our citizens. We
reaffirmed our commitment to improving the capacity of
economies to respond to infectious diseases, to control
non-communicable diseases, and to strengthen health systems.
We supported the efforts to promote understanding on the
safe and effective use of Traditional and Complementary
Alternative Medicines (TCAM) by integrating traditional
medicine into healthcare systems in accordance with
economies’ priorities and legislation, and involving
communities and strengthening public-private partnerships,
taking into account economies’ circumstances. We
instructed officials to progress the work on implementing
the strategies for both health promotion and preventive
health care. We also committed to work towards zero new HIV
infections, zero discrimination and zero HIV-related deaths,
especially through HIV prevention programs in the APEC
region. We recognized the importance, including toward the
economy, of promoting sustainable healthcare systems that
deliver Universal Health Coverage in the APEC region (see
Annex E).
Mainstreaming Ocean-Related
Issues
69. We underlined the linkage of oceans to the
economy, and highlighted in particular that sustainably
managed oceans resources contribute to long-term economic
benefits. We welcomed the APEC initiative on mainstreaming
ocean-related issues and the work plan to promote
cross-cutting and cross-fora collaboration to achieve
sustainable and inclusive growth. We instructed officials to
develop and implement the work plan that will complement our
efforts to promote ocean-related issues in APEC. We noted
that the work plan will include cooperation on, among
others, exchanging best practices in combating Illegal,
Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing; sustainable
fisheries management and trade, including trade in
sustainably harvested fisheries products and aquaculture;
new and renewable energy; tourism; science and technology;
transportation and marine connectivity. We reaffirmed our
commitments on oceans issues at Rio+20, and welcomed the
work by the international community to address overfishing
and overcapacity.
Strengthening Food Security and
Safety
70. We reiterated our commitment to pursue and
strengthen our cooperation in achieving sustainable food
security through the implementation of the Niigata
Declaration 2010 and Kazan Declaration 2012, including
through the Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS). We
encouraged sharing of best practices on this area through
Asia-Pacific Information Platform on Food Security (APIP).
We reaffirmed the importance of not applying
WTO-inconsistent trade measures in pursuing food
security.
71. We welcomed the Food Security Road Map
towards 2020 as a strategic approach in APEC to achieve the
goal of improving food security. We instructed officials to
develop and start to implement an operational Business Plan
in the coming years. We noted that the business plan would
address the sustainable development of the food sector; the
facilitation of investment and infrastructure development;
and enhancing trade and markets. The operational Business
Plan should reflect close collaboration among relevant APEC
fora and private sector, and not duplicate existing APEC
initiatives.
72. We recognized the crucial role of farmers
and fishers, especially small holders and women, in
increasing food production and attaining food security in
the region. Noting their vulnerability to economic
turbulence and natural shocks, we underlined the need to
enhance their capacity to reduce food losses and further
strengthen their role in our investment and environmental
conservation policies. We valued the creation and
enhancement of partnerships that involve key stakeholders in
food security, including by integrating smallholder farmers
and fishers with the private sector in food supply-chains.
The partnerships should also take into account the
importance of gender equality and the significant role of
women in ensuring food security from household, to
community, economy-wide, and regional levels. We welcomed
the multi-year project on Strengthening Public-Private
Partnership to Reduce Food Losses in the Supply Chain.
73. We recognized the continued efforts of the Food
Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF) and its Partnership Training
Institute Network (PTIN) in developing food safety capacity
in the region, strengthening food supply-chains in the
region and complementing the efforts in the alignment of
domestic regulations with international standards.
74. We
recognized that education of SMEs on Food Safety Standards
plays an important role to improve the competitiveness of
SMEs, facilitate trade and increase food safety which is
eventually promoting public health. In this regard, we noted
the importance of having comprehensive technical approaches
to assist and build the capacity of SMEs to apply and
enhance compliance of food safety standards.
Promoting
the Application of Innovative
Biotechnologies
75. Acknowledging that agricultural
biotechnology advances APEC economies’ agricultural
sustainability and goals for food security, we agreed to
promote the sharing of information and experience on the
creation and fostering of science-based regulations, and to
identify applications of agricultural biotechnology that
address the environmental, food, and health challenges in
member economies.
76. We reaffirmed our commitment to
promote science-based risk assessments and transparent
decision making consistent with domestic laws as part of the
continuing effort to educate the public about the importance
of global food security of providing farmers with production
choices, including agricultural biotechnology.
77. We
demonstrated support for small farmers by directing the
HLPDAB to develop a platform to share information on policy
and innovative technologies, appropriate for small
farmers’ use. We encouraged officials to conduct risk
communication outreach to improve public understanding on
agricultural biotechnology.
Enhancing Science,
Technology and Innovation Cooperation
78. We welcomed
the commencement of work by the Policy Partnership on
Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI) under the
Chairmanship of Indonesia. We instructed officials to
enhance the development of science, technology and
innovation cooperation and to explore effective innovation
policies, mindful of its focus on building science capacity,
promoting an enabling environment for innovation, and
enhancing regional science and technology connectivity.
79. We appreciated the convening of the first meeting of
APEC Chief Science Advisors and Equivalents (CSA) Co-Chaired
by Indonesia and New Zealand, which has been able to deliver
a unique contribution to APEC Leaders’ Vision of
Innovation and Cooperation Networking in the Asia Pacific
region. We recommended the CSA meeting and its associated
network to continue as informal mechanisms to support policy
discussions on common regional APEC issues where science and
science based innovation challenges need to be
addressed.
Promoting Sustainable Forest
Management
80. We reaffirmed our strong commitment to
increase forest cover in the APEC region by 20 million
hectares by 2020 as outlined by APEC Leaders in 2007. We
welcomed the outcomes of the Meeting of Ministers
Responsible for Forestry held in August 2013, in Cusco,
Peru, on sustainable forest management promoting and
enhancing governance through institutional and legal
frameworks that involves management, conservation and
rehabilitation measures, increased forest cover, research
and innovation, indigenous community participation,
enhancement of environmental education, strengthened efforts
to combat illegal logging and associated trade, promotion of
private investment, and capacity building, so as to promote
sustainable forest management and closer forestry
cooperation and exchange in the region.
Combating
Wildlife Trafficking
81. We recognized that wildlife
trafficking threatens our sustainable economic development.
We committed to treat wildlife trafficking crimes seriously;
reduce the supply of and demand for illegally traded
wildlife; increase public awareness and education related to
wildlife trafficking and its impacts; and enhance
international cooperation through Wildlife Enforcement
Networks (WENs) and other existing
mechanisms.
Promoting Clean and Renewable Energy and
Sustainable Development Mining and Metallurgy
82. We
are committed to strike a balance between growth rate,
quality and efficiency, and to establish a comprehensive and
coordinated sustainable development.
83. We welcomed the
convening of the Conference on Clean, Renewable and
Sustainable Use of Energy that took place in Nusa Dua, Bali
in September 2013 to discuss efforts to boost investments in
clean and renewable energy, to build capacity and technical
cooperation in projects that involve advanced technologies
and skilled human resources, and to share the importance of
cooperation on low carbon growth.
84. We instructed
officials to implement set of specific actions that will
strengthen our collective efforts on energy development,
specifically on clean and renewable energy, to reach the
energy security and sustainability in the region (see Annex
C).
85. We reaffirmed our commitment to rationalize and
phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage
wasteful consumption, while recognizing the importance of
providing those in need with essential energy services. We
instructed officials to continue to build regional capacity.
We welcome the development of a methodology for a Voluntary
Peer Review Mechanism of these inefficient fossil fuel
subsidies and encourage broad voluntary participation in
these reviews as a valuable means of enhanced transparency
and accountability. We welcome the initiation of
economy-owned peer reviews and use of the voluntary
reporting mechanism.
86. We noted the value of the Energy
Smart Community Initiative (ESCI) to promote innovation for
green growth through knowledge and best practice sharing. We
encouraged economies to continue to make efforts to support
ESCI related activities.
87. We took note of the
challenges in establishing new mining and metallurgical
projects and ensuring projects are developed in a
sustainable manner that brings greater benefits to society.
We reiterated the importance in bringing together common
concerns of the APEC economies on sustainable mining and
metallurgy, including technical and non-technical risks
factors. We identified that to increase the mineral added
value of the industrial activities of our people means to
increase the regional added value through a wholesome effort
of sectoral and regional improvement. As the largest region
of ore producers and consumers, we recognized the importance
of promoting interregional trade and communication,
cooperation and synergy with other regional groupings, such
as the EU, by encouraging sharing of knowledge and
experiences in mining and metallurgical business
sector.
88. We acknowledged the importance of enhancing
and balancing the share of cleaner fossil fuels, such as
natural gas and the use of clean coal technology, in the
energy mix that would help to reach energy sustainability in
the Asia-Pacific region.
89. We underlined the value of
cross border mechanism, such as the Joint Crediting
Mechanism to disseminate low carbon technologies to achieve
sustainable growth.
Improving Energy
Efficiency
90. We also reiterated the importance of
improving energy efficiency, particularly in industry,
consumer including home appliances, equipment, building and
houses, and transport sectors, in order to ensure
sustainable energy use in the region. We reaffirmed our
commitment in 2011 to aspire to reduce APEC’s aggregate
energy intensity by 45 percent by 2035, using 2005 as a base
year. We encouraged officials, in close cooperation with
private sector, to implement policies that improve energy
efficiency, including capacity building initiatives, joint
studies and harmonization of energy efficiency
standards.
Fighting Corruption and Ensuring
Transparency
91. We reaffirmed the importance and the
need to enhance prevention and enforcement in addressing
corruption, bribery and other financial crimes and illicit
trade that imperil our security and prosperity agenda,
including the safeguarding of public assets, natural
resources, and human capital. We also reaffirmed our
commitment to create ethical business environments that
support sustainable economic growth, in particular by
strengthening ethical standards, and we encouraged all
stakeholders to implement APEC’s high standard principles
for codes of business ethics. We applauded the
Anti-Corruption and Transparency Working Group (ACTWG)’s
continued leadership in collaborating with other APEC fora.
We further committed to establish among member economies an
“APEC Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law
Enforcement Authorities (ACT-NET)”, under the auspices of
ACTWG to promote networking and foster relationship-building
among anti-corruption and law enforcement officials who can
assist one another in detecting, investigating and
prosecuting corruption and domestic and foreign bribery,
money laundering, and illicit trade cases; to provide a
forum that can facilitate bilateral and multilateral
discussions of such cases, as appropriate; and to facilitate
the sharing of expertise and experiences in detecting,
investigating and prosecuting such cases (see Annex D).
Strengthening APEC
92. We reiterated
our commitments to Economic and Technical Cooperation
(ECOTECH) and Manila Framework as APEC’s main pillar in
attaining sustainable growth and equitable development in
the Asia-Pacific region and in reducing economic disparities
among APEC economies. We also reaffirmed our commitment to
continue leveraging ECOTECH activities to help developing
economies achieve the Bogor Goals by 2020. We welcomed
efforts to maintain focus on ECOTECH and instructed
officials to improve the effectiveness of SOM Steering
Committee on ECOTECH (SCE)’s work, capacity-building and
communication. We commended the progress made this year in
advancing the ECOTECH agenda and endorsed the 2013 Senior
Official's Report on Economic and Technical
Cooperation.
93. We noted an SCE survey was conducted this
year and welcome the 12 recommendations formulated as an
outcome of the survey. We directed Senior Officials to
oversee the implementation of those recommendations and
report to the AMM next year and in the years to
come.
94. We acknowledged ongoing endeavors to strengthen
the coordination between APEC fora and to streamline
operating processes of SCE. We instructed Senior Officials
to continue improving this coordination and urge APEC fora
to enhance communication so as to avoid duplication of work
and maximize synergy. We encouraged APEC secretariat to work
out the recommendations for streamlining CTI sub-fora. We
noted recent work in this area on women’s issues, SMEs,
oceans, connectivity, food security, education and travel
facilitation.
95. We recognized that synergies exist
between APEC and other fora, including ASEAN, and welcomed
collaborative capacity building activities this year which
advanced economic integration goals of both fora. We
instructed officials to continue to organize joint
activities in areas of mutual interest, where common
objectives are shared.
96. We supported the decision of
our officials to transform the Counter Terrorism Task Force
into a Working Group. We underlined the importance of our
work in counter terrorism in securing our supply chains,
finance, travel, and infrastructure in the APEC
region.
97. We committed to strengthen our deliberation on
important issues by enhancing cross fora collaboration and
synergy. We noted that such work has been conducted on
issues of women’s economic empowerment, SMEs, oceans,
connectivity, food security, education, as well as travel
facilitation and encouraged future joint work on other
important issues.
98. We recognized that advancing APEC
economic and technical cooperation requires greater levels
of funding to the APEC Support Fund. We welcomed generous
voluntary contributions from member economies, to be
utilized for our goal of bridging development gaps among
economies. We also urged economies to continue making
voluntary contributions to help support the implementation
of targeted capacity building activities.
99. We
emphasized the importance of public-private interactions in
APEC to promote growth in the region. We welcomed active
participation and valuable inputs that ABAC provided this
year on various cross-cutting agenda in APEC.
100. We
recognized the importance of budget and management
arrangement in APEC as a means to solidify APEC as an
institution. In this regard, we welcomed the work of APEC in
financial realignment and institutional management issues.
We also welcomed the work on project management that would
improve capacity-building activities in APEC, including the
work by Budget and Management Committee (BMC) to better
evaluate the impacts of APEC projects.
101. We welcomed
the ongoing work on the institutional arrangements and
endorsement of the APEC Secretariat’s 2014-2016 strategic
plan to strengthen its role and capacity in supporting APEC
to achieve its goals. We supported the work of strengthening
the operational and institutional capabilities of the APEC
Secretariat. We instructed officials to further review the
administrative and budgetary issues in APEC so as to further
improve the effectiveness of our work in APEC.
102. We
acknowledged the continued research and analytical
contributions provided by the PSU in progressing APEC’s
goals. We supported undertakings to strengthen the PSU’s
institutional capacity to fulfill its mandate through its
five-year strategic plan.
103. We endorsed the 2013 Senior
Officials’ Report on APEC’s work program, including the
recommendations contained therein, noted the 2013 Annual
Report of the APEC Secretariat Executive Director, and
approved the 2014 APEC budget and member contributions. We
welcomed preparations for APEC 2014 in
China.