APEC ECONOMIC LEADERS DECLARATION:
FROM VISION TO ACTION
Subic, The Philippines
25 November, 1996
1. We, the Economic Leaders
of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, met today in Subic, the
Philippines, for our fourth annual meeting. Our collective achievements of
sustained economic growth, increased employment, and regional stability are the
result of our shared commitment to growth-oriented policies, the broadest
participation in the regional and global economy, and an environment of
stability and security. We came to Subic to strengthen this commitment and to
reaffirm that the ultimate objective of our individual and collective endeavors
is to enrich the lives and to improve the standards of living of all our
citizens on a substantial basis.
2. At Blake Island three years
ago, we committed ourselves to "deepening our spirit of community based
on our shared vision of achieving stability, security and prosperity for our
peoples". In Bogor a year after, we began the process of realizing this
vision by committing ourselves to the goals of free and open trade and investment
in the region. Last year in Osaka, we agreed on the framework of our future
work to reach our common goals built through trade and investment liberalization,
trade and investment facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation.
3. Today in Subic, we have
deepened the spirit of community in the Asia-Pacific region and have affirmed
our commitment to sustainable growth and equitable development.
4. We have:
- launched the implementation phase of our
free and open trade and investment agenda,
- delivered business facilitation
measures,
- agreed to advance common goals in the
World Trade Organization,
- developed ways to strengthen economic
and technical cooperation, and
- engaged the business sector as a full
partner in the APEC process.
Manila Action Plan for APEC
5. We have brought to Subic
our individual and collective initiatives in fulfillment of our voluntary
commitment to implement the Osaka Action Agenda. We shall implement these
initiatives, presented as the Manila Action Plan for APEC (MAPA), beginning
1 January 1997.
6. MAPA contains the first
steps of an evolutionary process of progressive and comprehensive trade and
investment liberalization toward achieving our Bogor goals by 2010/2020, in
accordance with the Osaka Agenda. We are determined to sustain the dynamism
of our plans through a continuous process of review and consultations. We
are committed to build on MAPA, and to improve our individual action plans,
including their comparability and comprehensiveness.
7. To this end, we welcome
the decision of ministers to meet in 1997 to review the individual action
plans, taking into account the views of the private sector. We ask that they
report the results to us when we meet next year.
8. We further instruct our
ministers to identify sectors where early voluntary liberalization would have
a positive impact on trade, investment, and economic growth in the individual
APEC economies as well as in the region, and submit to us their recommendations
on how this can be achieved.
9. We also commend to our
citizens the results of APEC's work on collective actions which are the first
harvest of seeds sown at Bogor and Osaka and which will facilitate the conduct
of business in and between APEC economies, increasing competitiveness and
reducing transaction costs. This year, we have made our tariff regimes more
transparent. WE have agreed to harmonize our tariff nomenclature by the end
of this year and our customs clearance procedures by 1998. WE have agreed
to align our national standards with international standards and to recognize
each other's national standards.
10. We direct our ministers
to intensify work in 1997 on simplification of customs clearance procedures,
effective implementation of intellectual property rights commitments, harmonization
of customs valuation, facilitation of comprehensive trade in services, and
enhancing the environment for investments.
Multilateral Trading System
11. We reaffirm the primacy
of an open, multilateral trading system based on the WTO. We consider it essential
that regional and multilateral trade and investment should support and reinforce
each other. We applaud the efforts of APEC members which extend to all economies
the benefits derived from sub-regional arrangements. We are determined that
the far reaching liberalization measures to which we have voluntarily committed
ourselves in APEC, and the significant opening already underway in all our
economies, will serve as a catalyst for further liberalization of the multilateral
trading system. We call on WTO members to build on the process of progressive
liberalization and enhanced transparency which we have initiated in APEC.
12. We affirm our determination
to ensure that the first WTO Ministerial Conference, which is being held in
an APEC member economy, generates the dynamism and purpose necessary for strengthening
the multilateral rules-based Uruguay Round commitments by each WTO member.
We urge all members to make determined efforts to complete outstanding negotiations
in the telecommunications and financial services sectors, and to establish
a substantive and balanced program of further work that will move WTO forward.
13. We endorse initiatives
for freer and non-discriminatory trade in goods and services. Recognizing
the importance of information technology in the 21st century, APEC Leaders
call for the conclusion of an information technology agreement by the WTO
Ministerial Conference that would substantially eliminate tariffs by the year
2000, recognizing need for flexibility as negotiations in Geneva proceed.
14. We encourage the acceleration
of substantive negotiations on protocol issues and market access with a view
to achieving universality of WTO membership.
Economic and Technical Cooperation
15. We recognize that our
vision of community can be strengthened only if our efforts benefit all citizens.
As an essential complement to our trade and investment liberalization agenda,
economic and technical cooperation helps APEC members to participate more
fully in and benefit from an open global trading environment, thus ensuring
that liberalized trade contributes to sustainable growth and equitable development
and to a reduction in economic disparities.
16. This year, we have advanced
our work on economic and technical cooperation significantly. To give it further
impetus, we endorse the declaration of a framework of principles for economic
cooperation and development in APEC adopted by ministers. We instruct our
ministers to apply these principles to the activities of relevant APEC fora,
giving a human face to development and thereby assigning high priority to
the following themes: developing human capital; fostering safe, efficient
capital markets; strengthening economic infrastructure; harnessing technologies
of the future; promoting environmentally sustainable growth; and encouraging
the growth of small and medium enterprises.
17. The implementation of
our economic cooperation agenda is based on a genuine partnership to which
all APEC economies contribute. We direct our ministers, working in partnership
with the private sector, to identify ways to encourage such participation
by all APEC economies. In addition, we ask that they put special emphasis
on the full participation of women and the youth.
18. Promoting rapid economic
growth that ensures a healthy environment and improves the quality of life
of our citizens is a fundamental challenge. In this regard, we welcome the
work undertaken in various APEC fora, including the Meeting of Ministers in
charge of Human Resources Development, Small and Medium Enterprises, Industrial
Science and Technology, Telecommunications, ,Energy, and Sustainable Development.
19. We direct ministers, in
coordination with the private sector, to develop specific initiatives to implement
an initial work program for sustainable development in APEC that includes
the themes of the sustainability of the marine environment, clean technology
and clean production, and sustainable cities. We call on ministers to intensify
work on sustainable growth and to report on their progress at our meeting
in Vancouver in 1997. We note the work already underway on the interrelated
issues of food, energy, environment, economic growth, and population. We agree
to push for further progress on these important issues, in light of the various
international fora being convened next year to address these issues.
20. We endorse the findings
of our finance ministers, reaffirming the importance of sound macroeconomic
policies in maintaining stable capital flows and exchange rates, accelerating
the development of domestic financial and capital markets in the region, and
stimulating private sector participation in infrastructure development. We
call on them to pursue concrete and practical measures to achieve these objectives.
21. Lack of infrastructure
severely contains sustained growth. Since public finance cannot fully meet
the enormous requirements of the region, private sector investment must be
mobilized. Providing the appropriate financial, economic, commercial and regulatory
environment is the key to stimulating such investments. We direct the relevant
ministers to work together with private sector representatives and with national/international
financial institutions, including export credit agencies, and develop a framework
for this purpose.
Role of the Business Sector
22. We affirm the central
role of the business sector in the APEC process. This year, the APEC Business
Advisory Council (ABAC) was organized and convened at our request. We thank
ABAC for its valuable work and ask our ministers to work closely with the
business sector next year to examine ways of implementing ABAC recommendations.
23. We ask in particular that
they consider ABAC's call to facilitate the movement of business people, enhance
investment flows, strengthen investment protection in terms of transparency,
predictability, arbitration and enforcement of contracts, align professional
standards in the region, involve the private sector in infrastructure planning,
develop policies supportive of small and medium enterprises, and encourage
greater business sector participation in economic and technical cooperation.
24. We welcome the opportunity
to dialogue with the business sector and note with appreciation the Philippine
initiative to convene the APEC Business Forum.
A Shared Vision
25. We recognize that the
strength of APEC is derived from its diversity and that we are bound by a
shared vision of community. Thus, deepening the spirit of community in accordance
with the APEC approach is critical in exerting a positive influence on the
region and on the world. This vision of community requires that all sectors
of society develop a stake in the success of APEC. We therefore commit ourselves
to foster greater public-private sector partnership in APEC. We also place
great value on promoting more people-to-people linkages, particularly those
in education and business.
26. Finally, we express full
confidence that the APEC process will produce substantial, concrete, measurable
and sustainable results which will tangibly improve the lives of all our citizens
by the turn of the century.
