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APEC Member Officials Stress Trade, Investment Liberalization
The Second Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM II) of the 13rd Ministerial Conference of APEC has reached a consensus that APEC member economies should advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation (TILF) and render full support for the early launch of the new round of WTO talks, according to a Chinese official.
Wang Guangya, SOM II chairman and Chinese vice foreign minister, made the remark here Sunday at a news briefing after the conclusion of the two-day SOM II attended by senior officials from 21 APEC member economies and held in this special economic zone in South China's Guangdong Province.
He said the participants have discussed the proposals for the improvement of Individual Action Plans (IAPs) submitted by member economies, and expressed their confidence that the e-IAP system would be fully implemented. The senior officials also stressed the importance of capacity building and the advancement of the economic and technical cooperation process, Wang said, adding that, in this connection, they agreed on developing an "Ecotech Action Plan" (EAP). As a counterpart of the IAPs in the TILF area, EAPs prepared by several member economies will be submitted to the Leadership and Ministers' Meeting, Wang said.
He said the meeting affirmed that human capacity building remains a central theme of APEC, and welcomed the outcomes and ideas embodied in the Beijing Initiative on human capacity building, which will be one of the major themes of the Leadership Meeting.
He said the e-APEC Task Force has begun its work on drafting a long-term, forward-looking and action-oriented strategy in following up on the New Economy Action Agenda adopted by the APEC leaders last year.
He said the task force has also begun to extend and broaden the consensus among member economies with a view to building a digital society in the APEC region, with equal opportunities and widely shared benefits for all economies and individuals.
The representatives of the APEC Finance Ministers Process and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) briefed the meeting on their recent activities and recommendations, according to Wang.
The Chinese side briefed the meeting on the arrangements for the following APEC meetings, to be held in China in 2001, Wang said.
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