First Meeting of the 2004 APEC Year hosted by Chile

Distinguished SOM Leaders,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the entire APEC Chile 2004 team, I am delighted to extend to all of you a very warm welcome to Viña del Mar, Chile´s Garden City.

I am quite sure that the beautiful surroundings will help you overcome the natural jet-lag that you may be experiencing after enduring many long hours flying to Chile. My team and I will certainly strive to make your short visit to Chile both productive and pleasurable. Do - of course - savor while here in Viña del Mar our spectacular sea food, fruitful wines and experience the hospitality that Chileans have to offer to their APEC friends and colleagues.

May I add that after traveling so many long hours to Chile you now know first hand what for years we have had to endure in order to actively participate in Asia Pacific´s premier trade liberalization, facilitation and economic cooperation forum!

My friends: The histories of Viña del Mar and its multicolored sister city, Valparaiso - recently named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO - have always been linked to trade with the bustling markets of the Asia Pacific Region. It was from Valparaiso that in 1819, the first frigate bearing the Chilean ensign, the "Carmen", sailed laden with three thousand two hundred pounds of copper bars destined to be traded in Hawaii, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Thus, it is only natural that it be here in Viña del Mar where we begin an exciting APEC 2004 Year. We will aim to face all of the challenges and tasks that have been set forth by our Economic Leaders and Ministers, as well as those themes and sub themes that Chile has identified as a contribution to help seize the tremendous opportunities that will allow our stakeholders to participate more effectively in and benefit from greater liberalization of trade and investment, as well as building upon their strengths in the face of an interdependent global market.

I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Thailand for its true leadership during the 2003 APEC Year. In Bangkok we were able to successfully combine our diverse strengths to meet the challenges facing our region. In line with APEC's theme for the 2003 Year, "A world of Differences: Partnership for the Future", and its sub-themes, Economic Leaders agreed that strong partnerships are vital in order to achieve the goals set out in Bogor.

As stated in the Bangkok Declaration on Partnership for the Future, "to realize our vision amidst the rapidly changing international environment, Economic Leaders agreed to strengthen our partnership not only to liberalize and facilitate regional trade and investment, but also to protect our peoples and societies against threats to their security, while preparing them to benefit fully from free and open trade. By taking these steps, we can all realize the APEC vision, established by Economic Leaders in 1993, of achieving stability, security and prosperity for our peoples".

In Bangkok we were able to reaffirm our commitment to strengthen the multilateral trading system and agreed that the Doha Development Agenda offered the potential for real gains for all economies, in the areas of agricultural reform, improved market access for goods and services, and clarification and improvement of trade disciplines.

We witnessed a new and stronger bond with the APEC Business Advisory Council and the business community to continue to implement the Shanghai Accord and Los Cabos directives to facilitate business activity in the APEC Region, including the reduction of transaction costs by 5% by the year 2006.

We agreed to enhance APEC's work on WTO capacity building and to promote transparency by implementing our general and area specific transparency standards through our Transparency by 2005 Strategy.

It was in Bangkok were Economic Leaders agreed that transnational terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction pose direct and profound challenges to APEC´s vision of free, open and prosperous economies. We witnessed the establishment of a regional trade and financial security initiative within the Asian Development Bank, to support projects that enhance port security, combat terrorist financing and achieve other counter terrorism objectives.

The 2003 APEC Year bore fruit through increased coordination between APEC´s Counter Terrorism Task Force, the Counter Terrorism Action Group of the G-8, the United Nations Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee and other relevant international, regional and functional organizations.

We vowed to confront the threat posed by MANPADS and to implement the APEC Action Plan on SARS and our Health Security Initiative, as well as to accelerate the implementation of the Energy Security Initiative.

We have agreed to use APEC to help people and societies benefit from Globalization. Because Economies that are Open to trade grow faster, through new technologies, knowledge and sound and efficient financial systems and fundamentals. We agreed to leverage resources for implementation of the Micro-Enterprises Action Plan in 2004, and voiced support for science and technology innovation, the upgrading of English language and computer skills among the workforce within the APEC Region, in particular youth, women, micro and SMEs.

Finally, we agreed to strengthen economic and legal infrastructure as a guiding program and were instructed to discuss the need to make APEC more efficient and responsive to all stakeholders.

As you have been able to hear, we have quite a load of work to undertake in 2004 and Chile feels particularly proud to have an opportunity to take a lead in making concrete progress for the 2003 APEC Year deliverables.

SOM Leaders, friends: I cannot but express my gratitude to the APEC Secretariat for its valuable contributions in order for this ISOM in Viña del Mar to be truly packed with quality work. I am sure that as the day progresses, we will once again be impressed at the high degree of commitment that a small group of highly motivated professionals, led by Ambassadors Piamsak and Artaza, have been able to achieve in order to make our meetings here a success.

In closing, I would like to take a brief opportunity to present the APEC Chile Year 2004 Team. It is also comprised by a reduced and selected group of professionals who will surely strive to make their utmost in order to effectively contribute to the APEC process in 2004.

Now, please allow me to introduce to you Mr. Mario Matus, the new Chilean SOM, who will in turn present the ISOM Program of Activities. Mario is a well known trade negotiator who serves as Director for Bilateral Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has actively participated and led the FTA negotiation process with the United States, Canada, EFTA and the European Union.