Top > Economic Affairs > Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) > APEC 2001 > The 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting (Overview)

The 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting (Overview)

18 October 2001

The 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting was held in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, on 17-18 October, with Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Shigeo Uetake and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma in attendance from Japan. The Ministerial Meeting is positioned as a meeting that sums up the activities of the Senior Officials Meetings (SOM), which have been held three times this year, and the Sectoral Ministerial Meetings.

At this year's Ministerial Meeting, deliberations were held on three themes: (a) Advancing Trade and Investment; (b) Sharing the Benefits of Globalization and the New Economy; and (c) Promoting Sustainable Economic Growth. Under the main theme, "Meeting New Challenges in the New Century: Achieving Common Prosperity through Participation and Cooperation," which was set forth by China, the Chair of the meetings. The Joint Statement of the 13th APEC Ministerial Meeting was issued on the evening of 18 October. An outline of the statement is as follows (the underlined sections indicate initiatives from Japan):

In view of the seriousness of the simultaneous terrorist attacks in the United States of America on 11 September, the participating Foreign Ministers (except for Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong, China) exchanged views on the issue of terrorism on the morning of 18 October. On the basis of the results of these talks, further discussions were conducted at the 9th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, and an APEC Leaders' Statement on Counter-Terrorism was released.

Foreword

  • While the prospects for the global and regional economy has become more vague due to the economic slowdown in Japan, the United States and Europe since last year and the terrorist attacks in the United States, Ministers affirmed their confidence in the medium- and long-term prospects of growth in the APEC region. They stressed the importance of structural reform.

Theme 1: Advancing Trade and investment

  • Ministers recognized the increasing importance of launching the World Trade Organization (WTO) new round at the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference scheduled for November. Ministers called on the parties concerned to agree on a balanced and sufficiently broad-based agenda, which should include: (a) Furthering trade liberalization and strengthening of WTO rules; (b) reflecting the interests of all members, especially those of developing ones; (c) addressing the challenges of the 21st century; and (d) supporting the goal of sustainable development.
  • Ministers agreed to extend the APEC-wide moratorium on the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions until the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference. They reaffirmed the importance of the Strategic APEC Plan on capacity building for the implementation of WTO commitments.
  • Ministers welcomed the presentation of Individual Action Plans (IAPs) in electronic format. They endorsed the proposal for strengthening the IAP peer review process.
  • Ministers endorsed the updated Osaka Action Agenda (OAA) Part I, which reflects new changes and developments since 1995.
  • Ministers welcomed the expansion of Collective Action Plans (CAPs) in the Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) sector and the results of CAPs such as the completion of APEC Principles on Trade Facilitation. They encouraged the adoption of the revised Kyoto Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures at the earliest possible opportunity.

Theme 2: Sharing the Benefits of Globalization and the New Economy

  • Ministers recognized that human capacity building was a vital means of meeting the challenges of globalization and the new economy. They applauded various initiatives including the APEC High Level Meeting on Human Capacity Building held in May in Beijing and its outcome, the Beijing Initiative. They welcomed the Human Capacity Building Promotion Program as a follow-up project to the Beijing Initiative.
  • Ministers welcomed the outcome of the Fourth APEC Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting held in Kumamoto in September, and commended substantial progress in formulating a human resources development strategy in the context of globalization.
  • Ministers directed that a review of the function and mandate of the SOM Ecotech Subcommittee take place in order to ensure the effective coordination of Ecotech work. They welcomed the development of Ecotech Action Plans (EAPs) in the area of human resources development (HRD) as a pilot. They affirmed the role of EAPs in substantially enhancing cooperation in the field of HRD.
  • Ministers endorsed the amendment of the Joint Activities/Dialogue Sections of OAA Part II.
  • Ministers welcomed the initiative to hold a policy-level dialogue on biotechnology.

Theme 3: Promoting Sustainable Economic Growth

  • Ministers took note of initiatives related to strengthening the functioning market, including strengthening economic legal infrastructure and the APEC-OECD Cooperative Initiative on Regulatory Reform. They welcomed training programs for the implementation of APEC Principles to Enhance Competition and Regulatory Reform.
  • Ministers endorsed the long-term, forward-looking and action-oriented e-APEC Strategy. They urged member economies to take concrete actions to implement e-APEC strategy.
  • Ministers welcomed Individual Action Plans on Paperless Trading and instructed SOM to report on progress to the Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade in 2002.
  • Ministers endorsed the report from the Economic Committee.
  • Ministers welcomed the practice of strengthening linkages and communication between the Finance Ministers' process and the SOM process. They underlined the importance of information exchange between the two processes, given the current economic situation.
  • Ministers welcomed recommendations on strengthening APEC Social Safety Nets (SSNs), and endorsed the establishment of an APEC SSN Capacity Building Network. They welcomed the progress made on the Energy Security Initiative, welcomed the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Report, and endorsed the extension of the term of the Ad-hoc Group on Gender Integration to the end of 2002.
Back to Index