APEC Japan 2010 Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) Meeting Summary

June 6, 2010
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

The MRT was held on June 5 and 6 in Sapporo. Minister for Foreign Affairs Okada and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Naoshima chaired the meeting, and the ministers responsible for trade and representatives from APEC's 21 member economies participated. The Chair's Statement (attachment 1) and the Ministers' Statement on Support for the Multilateral Trading System and Resisting Protectionism (attachment 2) were adopted. The summary of the discussion at the meeting is as follows.

1. Supporting the Multilateral Trading System

1. WTO Director-General Lamy reported on protectionist movements in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as well as the present status of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations.
2. The Ministers reconfirmed in their discussion that they should seek an ambitious, balanced, and prompt conclusion of the DDA negotiations, and also confirmed the importance of horizontal discussion and strengthening of the political engagement to advance the negotiations. They agreed to play a leading role in the negotiations as APEC economies which stand to benefit from open trade.
3. Also, the Ministers confirmed they would extend the commitment made by the APEC Leaders in 2008 to resist protectionism in their stand-still agreement through 2011.

2. The Bogor Goals ^*1

1. An intensive discussion was conducted based on the report drafted mainly by Japan regarding the assessment of the achievement of the Bogor Goals by the 13 economies^*2 subject to assessment in 2010.
2. As a result of the discussion, the Ministers reached a common understanding on the main thrust of the assessment. The assessment that "trade and investment liberalization and facilitation have made substantial progress" was shared, while many stated the view that "there remains work to be done going forward, and it is necessary for APEC to make further efforts to contribute to the promotion of trade and investment".
3. The draft assessment report will be further fleshed out the contents based on the discussion at this meeting, and the Ministers will confirm the result at the APEC Ministerial Meeting in Yokohama.

^*1 The Bogor Goals: the goals were set in the Declaration at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Indonesia (the Bogor Palace) in 1994, and they set forth that industrialized economies by 2010 and developed economies by 2020 would achieve free and open trade and investment.

^*2 The 13 economies subject to assessment in 2010 are: Japan; the United States; Canada; Australia; New Zealand; Singapore; Chile; Hong Kong, China; Peru; Mexico; Korea; Malaysia; and Chinese Taipei (the underlined are developing economies which volunteered to participate).

3. APEC 2010 Key Priorities and the Way Forward of APEC

1. A discussion was held regarding the advancement of regional economic integration, including the concept of FTAAP (Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific). In addition to confirming the importance of further accelerating existing FTAs at the regional level, the Ministers decided to continue deliberations on possible pathways toward achieving an FTAAP and report the results of their discussions at the Yokohama APEC Ministerial Meeting to the APEC Economic Leaders.
2. The Ministers welcomed the concrete results and developments in the areas of investment, services, standards and trade facilitation and instructed that work be further accelerated going forward. The Ministers welcomed the development of the action plan for the Supply-Chain Connectivity Initiative and the fact that the "Website on Tariffs and Rules Of Origins (web-TR)" was effectively completed.
3. Toward formulating the Asia-Pacific region's long-term and comprehensive growth strategy, the Ministers discussed the attributes, contents, follow-up mechanism, etc. for the growth strategy that the region needs. The Ministers agreed to continue the discussion toward the APEC Ministerial Meeting and APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November. Further deliberations on the Growth Strategy will include its follow-up mechanism and the contents of its action plan and will be based on the discussion at this meeting, and the results of the Growth Strategy High Level Policy Round Table in August, while employing APEC's organizational strengths.
4. With regard to the Human Security, the Ministers confirmed to strengthen measures in the areas including food security, emergency preparedness, counter-terrorism and anti-corruption. In particular, the Ministers confirmed that there would be deliberations on a concrete proposal to strengthen efforts to utilize the region's excellent technology and know-how in areas such as emergency preparedness and also develop a concrete action plan to strengthen regional food security at the Ministerial Meeting on Food Security to be held in October in Niigata.

4. Economic and Technical Cooperation

Along with reconfirming the importance of economic and technical cooperation in the APEC region, the Ministers welcomed the reform proposal to strengthen economic and technical cooperation activities and confirmed that efforts based on this initiative will be implemented.

5. APEC Reform

It was agreed that the Policy Support Unit (PSU)'s mandate, set to expire at the end of 2010, be extended. The precise length of the extension and the modalities of financial assistance will continue to be deliberated.