Trade Facilitation
Ministers emphasized the importance of APEC's trade facilitation work to achieve the Bogor goals and welcomed progress made so far to reduce transaction costs by five percent by 2006 under the APEC Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP), including a menu of concrete actions and measures to facilitate trade. They acknowledged the successful outcome of the Trade Policy Dialogue on APEC and WTO work on Trade Facilitation and encouraged member economies to continue this exchange of information.
Ministers called for further work to implement the TFAP, recognizing the importance of achieving concrete and measurable results in this area and engaging the business community. They called for confidence and capacity building activities that would assist individual economies to implement the TFAP and encouraged greater use of public-private partnerships.
They instructed officials to continue to identify and undertake work that would build on the existing base of knowledge on trade facilitation, including on how to measure and reduce transaction costs. In this context, Ministers welcomed a number of project proposals put forward by member economies to pursue a clear and appropriate mechanism to measure the progress in implementing trade facilitation initiatives. They asked that Senior Officials report progress on the TFAP to the APEC Ministerial Meeting in October 2003.
Counter-Terrorism
Ministers expressed deep concerns on the significant economic consequences of terrorism, particularly for developing economies, and reiterated their united resolve to secure and facilitate trade. They welcomed the creation of the Counter-Terrorism Task Force and Action Plan and reaffirmed the importance of achieving security and facilitation of trade as mutually reinforcing goals. They called on Senior Officials and APEC fora to explore security measures that would both facilitate and secure trade as APEC economies implement the Los Cabos Statement on Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Growth.
Ministers welcomed the progress made in implementing the Secure Trade in the APEC Region (STAR) initiative, endorsed by APEC Economic Leaders in October 2002, to ensure that the movement of goods and people is both more secure and efficient and stressed the importance of capacity building to assist economies in meeting deadlines. Ministers emphasized that efforts to increase the security of transportation, including greater cooperation between enforcement officials and the private sector and more use of information technology, could also facilitate trade.
Ministers praised efforts by member economies to establish container security regimes and to protect ships engaged in international voyage called for by Leaders as part of the STAR initiative. They noted particular projects underway in Canada; China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Philippines; Singapore; Thailand; and the United States. They called on APEC economies to promote additional projects to achieve these goals.
Ministers noted work undertaken to secure the flow of people in transit, including the development of standards for Advance Passenger Information and immigration service cooperation to improve the security of travel documentation and issuing systems.
Ministers strongly acknowledged that security in the APEC region must be applied across all economies and emphasized that capacity building, of individuals and institutions, including providing essential equipment, is of primary importance. They welcomed the ongoing efforts of APEC economies and APEC fora to develop targeted capacity building programs to help developing APEC economies implement APEC Leaders' counter-terrorism commitments, including in areas such as airport security and anti-money laundering policy.
Ministers instructed the Counter-Terrorism Task Force to facilitate the development of capacity building programs and ensure communication between fora. They encouraged cooperation between public and private sectors to further strengthen supply chain security and to facilitate cross-border trade. Ministers also stressed the importance of building business confidence by sharing information on measures taken to secure trade.
Individual and Collective Action Plans
Ministers welcomed the successful Individual Action Plan (IAP) reviews on Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Thailand. They took note of progress to complete peer reviews of Hong Kong, China; Korea; and New Zealand; and urged all economies to submit their IAPs for review by SOM I in 2005 in time for the mid-term stocktake in 2005 on overall progress towards the Bogor goals. They also welcomed recommendations to further improve the IAP peer review process.
Ministers instructed officials to review the collective action plans and ensure they correspond to work APEC needs to undertake to meet the Bogor goals. They noted a need to intensify work and emphasized, in particular, the importance of implementing current initiatives on trade facilitation.
Ministers looked forward to continuing close cooperation within APEC aimed at improving IPR facilitation, protection and enforcement, and endorsed establishment of IPR Service Centers with the understanding that each member economy will proceed with implementation as soon as it is ready. They also welcomed the plan to develop a Comprehensive Strategy on IPR Protection in APEC by the APEC Ministerial Meeting in October 2003. Ministers emphasized the importance of implementation of the APEC IP Toolkit through well-targeted projects which take into account the particular needs of developing APEC economies.
