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APEC Business Advisory Council

  

Commerce is the lifeblood of the region and business is the engine of economic growth.

Recognising the integral role of business and the value of representative business advice on key issues, APEC Leaders established the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 1995.

This private sector body presents recommendations to APEC Leaders in an annual dialogue and advises APEC officials on business sector priorities and concerns. ABAC meets four times per year, and ABAC representatives also attend Senior Officials' Meetings, the Annual Ministerial Meeting and the sectoral Ministerial Meetings.

ABAC comprises up to three senior business people from each APEC economy and the appointments are made by the Leader of the member economy concerned. The Chair of ABAC comes from the economy that is hosting APEC and therefore changes annually. ABAC represents a diverse range of sectors and includes small and large enterprises.


Achievements

ABAC's annual reports to APEC Economic Leaders outline business views about priority regional issues and contain recommendations to improve the business and investment environment in the APEC region. Many of ABAC's recommendations, for example the idea of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, have become core APEC activities.

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Current Activities

Under the 2009 theme "Building towards the Bogor Goals with One Community", ABAC is focusing on: accelerating regional economic integration, championing a model of sustainable growth, strengthening capacity building and enhancing connectivity. The interests of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is an overarching theme that will be addressed in all the discussions.

This year's first ABAC meeting was held in Wellington, New Zealand on 9-12 February. As part of APEC's continuing efforts to incorporate business inputs into the agenda, and to enhance cooperation and interaction between APEC and ABAC, a capacity building seminar on "Trading across Borders" and an ABAC-APEC Senior Officials' Dialogue were held on the fringes of the meeting.

ABAC members expressed their concern that government stimulus packages aimed at addressing the current economic crisis contain protectionist elements, and that some economies show signs of reversing the trend towards open markets. They also urged government to successfully conclude the WTO Doha Round and to fulfil commitments made at the recent G-20 Summit in Washington: commitments that were supported by APEC Leaders in their Statement on the Global Economy in Lima, Peru in November 2008.

ABAC also undertook to establish a mechanism for monitoring compliance with the recent crisis-related G20 commitments and with WTO trade liberalisation undertakings. The results will be made public on a regular basis.

Following the meeting, ABAC members wrote to their respective Leaders reminding them of their commitments, calling for the conclusion of the Doha Round and providing them with updates on the discussions and agreed outcomes from the meeting.

APEC Business Advisory Council - Key Contacts

2009 ABAC Chair - Mr TENG Theng Dar
Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Business Federation
10 Hoe Chiang Road
#22-01 Keppel Towers
Singapore 089315
Tel: (65) 6827 6888
Fax: (65) 6720 0885
Email: tdteng@sbf.org.sg

ABAC Executive Director 2009
Mr. Martin Yuoon
Singapore Business Federation
#10 Hoe Chiang Rd.
22-01 Keppel Towers
Singapore 089315
Tel: (65) 6827 6886
Fax: (65) 6827 6807
Email: mkhyuoon@sbf.org.sg

ABAC Secretariat
Mr Antonio Basilio,
Director for Operations
43/F. Philamlife Tower
8767 Paseo de Roxas
Makati City, 1226 Philippines
Tel: (632) 843-6001/ 845-4564;
Fax: (632) 845-4832
E-mail: abacsec@pfgc.ph

APEC Secretariat
Ms Tran Bao Ngoc
Director (Program)
E-mail: tbn@apec.org

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Reviewed on: 25 March 2009