6th APEC Energy Ministers' Meeting

Mr. Chairman,
Honorable Ministers,
EWG Lead Shepherd, Mr. John Ryan,

Distinguished Delegates,

It is my great privilege to report to the APEC Energy Ministers the APEC current and future activities, challenges and responses.

At the outset, I would like to extend my deep appreciation to the people and Government of Philippines for their warm hospitality and excellent arrangements.

I would also like to extend the warmest greetings from Ambassador Mario Artaza, the Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, who cannot be with us today. As you may be aware, the APEC calendar this year has more events than is usually the case. This has caused both myself and Ambassador Artaza to divide our time in this range of events.

In fact, the 2004 APEC year is an eventful year for the APEC process. Not only will there be the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Santiago, Chile, this November, but around 75 APEC working-level meetings and ten Ministerial Meetings will take place.

This month alone there are three ministerial meetings on either side of the Pacific Ocean. Before this meeting of APEC Energy Ministers is taking place on the western rim of the Pacific, the Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade just concluded on the eastern side of the Pacific in Southern Chile five days ago. What is more, in another five days time the APEC Mining Ministers Meeting will begin its business in Northern Chile.

I know many of us will continue our journey to the Mining Ministers Meeting right after this meeting, since energy and mining are closely related sectors, and mining is part of the business of the Energy Working Group in APEC as well.

The range of meetings that have already taken place and those that will occur in the months ahead are mindful of the overarching theme established by APEC 2004 Host, the Republic of Chile.

Chile has chosen "One Community, Our Future" as the central theme for this year and 7 sub-themes indicating priority areas.

This theme and sub-themes reflect the common interests of our Leaders, Ministers and other stakeholders to continue to build a strong and vibrant APEC region towards one Community.

This theme is also quite relevant to APEC Energy Ministers, because we have pursued three big "E"s such as Energy Security, the theme of this meeting, Environmental concerns arising from energy production and consumption and Economic growth throughout the APEC region.

All of our members share the common goal of building a stable, prosperous and secure community in the Asia-Pacific region. Although we are diverse in terms of culture, history and economic development, we are increasingly interdependent in many areas such as investment and trading activities as well as in our social and cultural links.

Minister Perez, APEC represents a group of the most dynamic economies. Our community accounts for around half of the world's trade and is home to 2.5 billion people, the largest of its kind in terms of size, population, as well as economic power. The Bogor Goals that our Leaders set for the region some ten years ago have encouraged members of APEC, industrialized or developing, to strive for freer trade and investment by continuously lowering down barriers between our economies.

Energy sector is one of the most important engines of our economic growth, and the works of EWG and Energy Ministers have contributed to building bridges between APEC economies. Promoting the interconnection of power grids and oil and gas pipelines and improving measures to safeguard sea lane security and numerous other initiatives are ensuring that the APEC region continues to strengthen as a community.

Now, I would like to report you on some of the distinctive developments in recent APEC activities, many of which have direct relevance to the energy sector.

Over the past years, APEC has experienced quite a busy period of growth and evolution, which are attributable to the rapid process of globalization and liberalization. During this time, the APEC agenda was expanded from the focus on trade and economic cooperation into new areas that had not previously been a part of our process.

Many of these are often described as non-economic concerns because they are directly concerned with issues such as SARS, anti-corruption or human security. However, all these issues ultimately do have a large impacts on the regional economy and are significant as APEC strives to reach its core free trade and investment goals.

The SARS epidemic is an important case. While SARS infections were a health issue, the cross-border outbreak of SARS represented a serious threat to regional trade. Downturn in business confidence and reduced consumer spending resulted in substantial losses in important economic sectors such as tourism and travel.

Another apparent non-economic issue that has been high on the APEC agenda in recent years is trade related security. As the world has witnessed with the September 11 attacks, the Bali Bombing and numerous other acts of violence have posed a significant threat to the security of this regional economy.

Since its launch in 2003, the APEC Counter Terrorism Task Force has made significant progress in the counter terrorism agenda. The most recent event in this process was the Second Secure Trade in the APEC Region, or STAR, Conference in Chile in last March.

This meeting covered a number of areas relevant to the energy sector including maritime security. The forum agreed that greater cooperation was required to facilitate greater regional compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code before its July 1 deadline.

Of particular concern was how to apply the ISPS Code requirements to sensitive areas such as vessels carrying fuels and other chemicals. I am confident that Energy security will continue to be a concern of APEC, EWG and the APEC Counter Terrorism Task Force in particular.

In this region, it is quite appropriate that the APEC Leaders in Bangkok endorsed a new APEC Action Plan to enhance energy security, which identifies several new activities and timeframes in several areas.

Now, I would like to turn over to the highlights of APEC sectoral Ministerial Meetings, which took place before this meeting today. Many of the issues raised in these meetings also relate directly to the energy sector, because it relates both to energy products, and to business practices in the region.

As the first ministerial meeting for 2004, the 4th Ministers' Meeting on Regional Science and Technology Cooperation took place early this year in Christchurch, New Zealand. Science Ministers noted the potential of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies to improve the region's energy, environment and economic security. They also called on the Industrial Science and Technology WG and the Center for Technology to continue collaboration with the Energy Working Group on this important research.

In April, APEC Education Ministers' Meeting also met in Santiago. It is notable that this meeting addressed the role of information and communication technologies in improving training and education as well as the role of English for cross-border trade and investment including the energy sector.

Most recently, the meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade was held in Pucon, Chile, over the past weekend. Trade Ministers committed themselves to the APEC's contribution to the success of the DDA process, and called on tangible progress on key areas of concerns such as agriculture, non-agricultural products market access (NAMA), as well as Singapore issues. Faced with the unprecedented oil price hike, Trade Ministers stressed the importance of the close collaboration between Ministers of Trade and Energy, and called for the strengthened cooperation of APEC and OPEC.

Over the following months, the meetings of Ministers responsible for Transport, Finance, SME, Tourism and the Joint Ministerial Meeting are scheduled to take place in the lead-up to the 2004 Leaders' Meeting in Santiago in November.

The rapid process of globalization has ever deepened interdependence and interrelatedness of economies and industries. Each ministerial meeting covers areas of interest to other fora. In this sense, close collaboration with relevant fora is required more than ever before to avoid duplication and to enhance synergy effects.

Finally, late last month, I participated in the 9th International Energy Forum (IEF-9) which was held in Amsterdam on the eve of the OPEC Ministers Meeting in Beirut early this month. Many of Your Excellencies present today were also actively participating in the Forum, which provided a valuable opportunity to exchange of views between energy producers and consumers in times of record oil price.

At IEF-9, it was reported that the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI) is now undertaken jointly by six organizations including APEC, International Energy Agency, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, among others. I was proud that the JODI had been first initiated in the EWG by APERC.

By 20-21 November this year, APEC activities will reach the climax. APEC Leaders will review what we have accomplished this year and chart for our future when they meet in Santiago. The major outcome of the 6th Energy Ministers Meeting will definitely serve as one of the most important deliverables to the APEC Leaders.

I look forward to a fruitful discussion and successful outcome of this meeting.

Thank you.