APEC members engage in economic and technical cooperation to facilitate the development and implementation of measures that promote trade, investment and sustainable growth, bridging gaps in their level of development and available resources.
The APEC Senior Officials' Meeting Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) coordinates and manages APEC members' economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH) agenda, which is outlined in the Osaka Action Agenda. In 1996, an APEC Framework for Strengthening Economic Cooperation and Development was adopted to guide members in implementing the Osaka Action Agenda.
The objectives of the SCE are to:
- support implementation of APEC's ECOTECH activities by prioritizing work based on the commitments made by Leaders' and Ministers, and overseeing the work of APEC fora;
- provide policy guidance on ways to contribute to APEC's ECOTECH goals;
- coordinate ECOTECH objectives and priorities between the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and APEC ministerial meetings;
In 2010, Senior Officials endorsed a new Framework to Guide ECOTECH activities to guide APEC-funded capacity building and all ECOTECH activities. This framework adopted a holistic approach by:
- Revising APEC ECOTECH priorities
- Introducing a uniform set of criteria for all project funding, where funding is based on the link between proposals and APEC’s core objectives.
Within this framework, the following medium-term ECOTECH priorities are established for the period of 2015-2019 :
Cross-cutting priorities
1. developing human capital through capacity building
2. developing and strengthening the dynamism of SMEs
3. harnessing technologies for the future and supporting innovation
4. inclusive growth - addressing the social dimension of globalization, health, gender
Workstream priorities
5. regional economic integration
6. structural reform
7. safeguarding the quality of life through sustainable growth
8. human security.
These medium-term priorities will be reviewed again in 2019.
Additional Background on SCE:
The SCE was first established as the SOM Sub-Committee for Economic and Technical Cooperation in 1998. In 2002, this was elevated to the SOM Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation. In 2005, the ESC was strengthened and transformed into the SOM Steering Committee on ECOTECH (SCE). In 2012, the SCE conducted an internal review of its working mechanisms and new Terms of Reference were endorsed, which was reconfirmed in 2016.
Last page update: 31 October 2016