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Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade
(Overview and Evaluation)

May 30, 2002

1. Overview

(1) Date: 29 to 30 May

(2) Venue: Puerto Vallarta, United Mexican States

(3) Attendees: Ministers Responsible for Trade from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies were present. Representing Japan were Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Kenichi Mizuno and Vice-Minister for International Affairs of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Hidehiro Konno, who were representing Cabinet members.

(4) At the end of the meeting a Statement of the Chair was issued by Minister of Economy Luis Ernesto Derbez of Mexico.

(5) Significance: The Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade is held mid-way through the year every year and is positioned as an important meeting in that it reviews APEC's activities in the mid-term and to set out a future direction.

(6) Main points of the meeting:

a) Strengthening the Multilateral Trading System

Mr. Mizuno stated that towards the successful and timely completion of the new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations by 2005, APEC should make a significant contribution. All of the ministers shared this recognition. In addition, Mr. Mizuno emphasized the need to proceed on schedule in such areas as the liberalization of market access, the clarification and improvement of WTO rules (anti-dumping, etc.) and the negotiation of work programs, etc., including Singapore issues. Ministers stated that the successes of the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference and the conclusion by 2005 of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) should be ensured and that work in Geneva should be accelerated. The importance of capacity building for developing economies was reconfirmed, and Mr. Mizuno explained that Japan, placing importance on these activities, has made a large contribution to such efforts. Other delegates welcomed these efforts by Japan.

In particular, although the time to decide the modalities for non-agricultural market access negotiation have yet to be decided, the APEC ministers confirmed that the deadline for a decision on this issue should be by the end of April 2003 and that all WTO members should be called upon to support such a commitment. This confirmation of APEC ministers' intentions represented a significant and concrete result.

Furthermore, Mr. Mizuno expressed concern over the recent moves towards a protectionist stance that have been appearing and stressed the importance of member economies ensuring that they resist protectionist pressures. This point was incorporated into the Statement of the Chair, stating that APEC should reject protectionism.

b) Trade and Investment Liberalization and Facilitation (TILF) in APEC

In accordance with the Shanghai Accord which was adopted at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in October 2001, it was confirmed that APEC's work on trade and investment liberalization and facilitation should be further advanced.

  1. Trade facilitation
    A variety of work is being undertaken within APEC in the area of trade facilitation and Mr. Mizuno stated that in order to realize the goal of a 5% reduction in trade transactions costs, the "APEC Trade Facilitation Action Plan" should be endorsed by the APEC Ministers responsible for trade. This statement received support. It was decided that in order to reduce transaction costs, work would be conducted on drawing up a list of concrete actions and measures, which would be approved at the leaders' and ministerial meetings this autumn.

    *The goal of realizing a 5% reduction in transaction costs across the APEC region over the next five years was agreed at the Shanghai Leaders' Meeting in October 2001.
  2. Individual Action Plan (IAP) and Collective Action Plan (CAP)
    Concerning Individual Action Plan (IAP) of each member economy implemented for achievement of liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, Japan proposed to strengthen IAP peer review (emphasis on prior face-to-face discussion between experts and relevant government agency in economy under review, on comments and discussions of all member economies in the peer review session), and Japan decided to undertake the strengthened peer review in the first place this year. This Japan's candidacy was welcomed by all ministers. Concerning the Collective Action Plans (CAP) among APEC economies, Japan explained a proposal for the establishment of an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Service Center Network, which received the understanding of ministers. Concerning this proposal it was decided that review should continue among the officials and a report be made at the ministerial meeting to be held in October 2002.
  3. Broadening and Updating of the Osaka Action Agenda (OAA)
    In order that APEC activities respond to the changes in the global economy, broadening and updating are being made to the Osaka Action Agenda (OAA). An interim report was approved considering this work in progress.
  4. Pathfinder approach
    It was confirmed that in order to promote efforts towards the achievement of the Bogor Goals, Pathfinder Initiatives would also be adopted (advance implementation of initiatives by multiple economies).

c) Counter-terrorism Measures within APEC

Mr. Mizuno pointed out that it was necessary to steadily implement the APEC Economic Leaders' Statement on Counter-terrorism that was adopted at the leaders meeting in 2001, and that both the goals of safety enhancement measures and the promotion of the facilitation of the movement of assets, finances and persons should be achieved. This was confirmed by other ministers at the Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade. In addition, Mr. Mizuno stated that he placed importance on the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions related to counter-terrorism including the Resolution 1373 and the conclusion of the 12 counter-terrorism-related conventions, and concerns of the international community should continue to be handled by APEC in the future.

The Ministers responsible for trade confirmed their recognition that cooperation in counter-terrorism measures should be strengthened in APEC activities.

d) Economic Growth (Strengthening Economic Legal Infrastructure)

In order to improve competition and regulatory reform, it was agreed that work in APEC should be further promoted. Mr. Mizuno stated that APEC should be further enhanced to work for structural reform.

e) Dialogue with Business People (APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC))

Dialogue between ministers and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) members was held for an exchange of views on the following themes: new round of the WTO (anti-dumping, agricultural subsidies, etc.); trade facilitation; counter-terrorism measures; cooperation on small and medium enterprises (SMEs); bio-technology; mutual recognition; structural reform; and enhancement of transportation between Asia and the Americas.

In the dialogue, ministers and ABAC members agreed on the need to further enhance cooperative relations between APEC and the business community in order that APEC truly works for the benefit of the business community.

2. Evaluation

At this Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade the two main pillars were: (1) the contribution to the new WTO Round; and (2) discussion concerning trade and investment liberalization and facilitation within APEC.

(1) Concerning the contribution to the new WTO Round, an achievement was that the APEC ministers sent a strong message concerning the necessity of accelerating work within the WTO, and agreed that a concrete deadline of 30 April 2003 should be settled on for a decision on the negotiation method of non-agricultural market access. In addition, a further achievement was that all ministers demonstrated a clear opposition to the recent trend towards protectionism.

The APEC region accounts for approximately 60% of global GNP, and includes the many developing economies, it was most significant that a strong resolution was announced towards the promotion of the new WTO Round.

(2) There were achievements in discussions concerning trade and investment liberalization and facilitation within APEC, whereby the proposal by Japan to formulate an "APEC Trade Facilitation Action Plan" received emphatic support and the proposal by Japan for an IPR Service Center Network also received understanding at the ministerial level.

(3) It was also a good achievement that steady progress was confirmed in counter-terrorism-related cooperation within APEC in areas such as the counter-terrorism-related conventions and the UNSC Resolution, the suppression of the financing of terrorism, air and maritime security and energy, as well as ministers agreed that such measures should continue to be steadily implemented.

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