The APEC Automotive Dialogue (AD) is a forum where APEC officials and senior industry representatives work together to map out strategies for increasing the integration and development of the automotive sector within the region.

The AD was established in recognition of the crosscutting nature of the automotive industry and of the broad benefits to many economies of trade liberalization and facilitation in this sector. It allows the public and private sectors to work together to improve policy development, to identify barriers to growth and to develop effective cooperation mechanisms for APEC economies to address and reduce impediments.

The AD engages participants in cooperative efforts to foster the growth and development of the regional auto industry and to provide actionable recommendations to APEC ministers and Leaders.

The AD has a clearly defined set of priority action areas based on Leaders’ Declarations and Ministerial Statements as well as instructions from senior officials and the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment. The directions for the activities of AD are also set in its terms of reference and work plan.

The AD first met in 1999 in Indonesia and has continued to meet every year since then.

In 2018, AD members met twice: June in the APEC Secretariat, Singapore; and October in Chiang Rai, Thailand. During those meetings, dialogue members were updated on

• Market situations in the auto sector
• Developments in free trade agreements
• Auto-related tax structures
• Policies and regulations on vehicles in form of Peer Review. In particular, AD members agreed to discuss policy-related issues with respect to autonomous driving, including electric vehicles

The 30^th AD Meeting was hosted in Bali, Indonesia, from 24 to 28 June 2019. AD members mainly focused their time on discussing autonomous driving. This agenda item was structured into the following four sessions:

• Information sharing session
• Panel discussion on government’s perspective
• Panel discussion on industry’s perspective
• Panel discussion on APEC AV guideline.

AD members agreed to continue discussing the issue and to reach consensus on the text of the APEC AV Guideline at the upcoming AD meeting.

The 31^st AD meeting was held in Taipei, Chinese Taipei, from 3 to 5 December 2019. AD members set new priorities for 2020:

• Mobility
• Autonomous vehicles
• Capacity building

The AD reached consensus on the text of the APEC Guideline on Autonomous Vehicles and agreed to ask the Transportation Working Group to provide constructive comments. AD members recognized their policy interests in e-scooters and related technologies, after a Chinese Taipei’s e-scooter company presented its report.

Throughout this year, the Automotive Dialogue will continue to discuss trade and trade-related regulatory issues affecting the competitiveness and sustainable development of the automotive industry in the Asia-Pacific region. The Dialogue will continue to focus its discussion on market access including free trade agreements, tax structure and regimes, non-tariff measures; trade and business facilitation; harmonization of standards and regulations; new technologies; and economic and technical cooperation related to the automotive industry in the Asia-Pacific region.

Furthermore, the Dialogue will aim to lead in-depth discussions on 1) Mobility, 2) Capacity Building and 3) Autonomous Vehicles, of which three topics are fully aligned with Malaysian Host Year’s three priority areas:

• Optimizing human potential for a future of shared prosperity
• Inclusive economic participation through digital economy and technology
• Driving innovative sustainability.

By doing so, the Dialogue will identify priorities and plan activities that AD member economies will pursue and implement collectively in these three fields. In particular, the Dialogue will aim to achieve endorsement of Committee on Trade and Investment as well as possibly higher fora including SOM, AMM and AELM on the APEC Guideline on Autonomous Vehicles after seeking constructive cross-fora collaboration with TPTWG. In addition, the Dialogue will discuss what to build further on the base of the APEC Guideline on Autonomous Vehicles.

The Dialogue will aim to discuss how to build and strengthen capacity of SMEs to integrate into Global Value Chain in automotive industry. The Dialogue will pursue the possibility of developing a Roadmap toward Integrating SMEs into Global Value Chain in Auto Industry.

The 31st Automotive Dialogue meeting (AD31) took place from 3 to 5 December 2019 in Taipei, Chinese Taipei. This meeting lead to three major achievements.

• New AD Priorities of 2020: AD members endorsed 1) Mobility, 2) Autonomous Vehicles and 3) Capacity Building as three focused themes of AD for 2020.
• Development of the Guideline on Autonomous Driving: AD members reached a consensus on the Guidelines on Autonomous Vehicles. AD members agreed on the following schedule of cross-forum coordination to develop the Guideline in a comprehensive and APEC-wide manner.
  • Seek TPTWG members’ inputs or comments on the draft as part of cross-fora collaboration intercessionally in 2020
  • Seek AD’s final endorsement on a revised draft that may reflect TPTWG comments at the 32^nd AD meeting which will be held in Malaysia in April 2020
  • Seek endorsements of CTI3, SOM3 and possibly higher fora such as AMM and AELM in 2020
• Including electric scooters in the agenda item of New Technology: A Chinese Taipei company made a presentation on its business model of e-scooters and its technology that attracts more customers in Chinese Taipei market, to which many economies showed policy interest. AD members agreed to continue to discuss this topic by sharing information on policies that incentivize electric scooters.