Advancing the WTO Round & Coping with new Challenges for Trade and Investments - Key Recommendations from Business Leaders to APEC Trade Ministers
Senior Asia-Pacific business leaders will prepare a series of recommendations for APEC Trade Ministers when they meet in Taipei on May 11-14.
Key among the recommendations from the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) will be business community views on progressing stalled WTO negotiations and preferential trade agreements.
ABAC Chair, Hernán Somerville, said ensuring economic growth can only be accomplished through close cooperation between the government and private sectors.
"APEC Trade Ministers are very receptive to the views of the business community and by working together we can overcome challenges facing the global economy," Mr. Somerville said.
"Progressing the WTO Doha Development Agenda is a key issue not only for opening markets and creating jobs, but for restoring business confidence in the economy.
"It is the business community that eventually trades in the goods and services that are the subject of WTO negotiations; we must make clear to Ministers and Leaders the critical importance of successfully concluding the negotiations, and the inescapable costs of failure."
Mr. Somerville also highlighted the importance of ensuring transparency and WTO consistency in bilateral or regional trade agreements within the APEC Region.
"These new free trade agreements offer substantial economic benefits, but new trading rules and regulations resulting from the growing number of preferential or free trade agreements could also impose very real costs on business," Mr. Somerville said.
"If the trading rules between the covered markets are not open, consistent, transparent and compatible, then the costs may outweigh the benefits, and they might actually impede future trade liberalisation.
"For business operators, it is also important that information about new trade and investment rules is clear and readily accessible by all businesses, both large and small.
"Governments must also continue aggressively to reduce transaction costs and make it easier to do business in the region, to bring down the procedural costs to accompany tariff reductions, and they need business community help to do this.
Mr. Somerville said other issues on the ABAC agenda include discussion of concrete measures for trade and investment facilitation and mechanisms to cope with new security and health challenges, particularly without needlessly burdening business.
The ABAC Report will be presented to the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade when they meet in Pucon, Chile, on June 4-5.
ABAC consists of up to three top business executives who are appointed directly by Leaders in each APEC Member Economy. ABAC delegates represent business concerns and advise APEC Leaders, Ministers and officials in areas such as trade and investment liberalization, business facilitation and capacity building.
This is the Second ABAC Meeting for 2004. Before presenting their full recommendations to APEC Leaders in Santiago this November, ABAC will meet again in Auckland, New Zealand in August.