APEC ECONOMIC LEADERS DECLARATION:
CONNECTING THE APEC COMMUNITY
Vancouver, Canada
25 November, 1997
1. We, APEC's Economic
Leaders, met today in Vancouver, Canada, to reaffirm our commitment to work
together to meet the challenge of sustaining regional prosperity and stability.
Certain of the dynamism and resilience of the region, we underline our resolve
to achieve sustainable growth and equitable development and to unlock the full
potential of the people who live here. We agree that the prospects for economic
growth in the region are strong, and that Asia-Pacific will continue to play a
leading role in the global economy. The goals we have set, including the
achievement of free and open trade and investment in the region by the dates
set out in the Bogor Declaration, are ambitious and unequivocal.
2. We take note of the
rapid expansion of APEC's activities in recent years, and the increasing
leadership role it plays in global economic affairs. Flowing from commitments
embodied in the Osaka Action Agenda and the Manila Action Plan for APEC, we
welcome the designation of 1997 as APEC's Year of Action. We have reflected on
the concrete results that APEC cooperation has generated throughout the year,
and set out a vision of how we may build upon these achievements in the years
ahead. As the year draws to a close, we note with satisfaction that we have met
and surpassed all the tasks we set for ourselves at our last meeting in Subic.
3. APEC -- Addressing
shared challenges: We have had a thorough discussion of recent financial
developments in the region. Our economies and the international community as a
whole have a strong interest in seeing a quick and enduring restoration of
financial stability and healthy and sustainable growth. These events reflect
new challenges in the international financial system that require new
responses. The global dimensions of these problems suggest the need for a global
response, with regional initiatives to complement and support these efforts. We
are resolved to work together to address these shared challenges.
There is no doubt that the
fundamentals for long-term growth and prospects for the region are exceptionally
strong. We remain convinced that open markets bring significant benefits and we
will continue to pursue trade and investment liberalization that fosters
further growth. Prudent and transparent policies, particularly sound
macroeconomic and structural policies, human resource development strategies,
and effective financial sector regulation are key to restoring financial
stability and realizing this growth potential.
But we need to go further.
We believe it is critically important that we move quickly to enhance the
capacity of the international system to prevent or, if necessary, to respond to
financial crises of this kind. On a global level, the role of the IMF remains
central. Therefore, we welcome and strongly endorse the framework agreed to in
Manila as a constructive step to enhance cooperation to promote financial
stability: enhanced regional surveillance; intensified economic and technical
cooperation to improve domestic financial systems and regulatory capacities;
adoption of new IMF mechanisms on appropriate terms in support of strong
adjustment programs; and a cooperative financing arrangement to supplement,
when necessary, IMF resources. We urge rapid implementation of the Manila
Framework. We also look forward to the conclusions of the IMF study already
underway on the role of market participants in the recent crises.
We recognize that as the
region's most comprehensive economic forum, APEC is particularly well suited to
play a pivotal role in fostering the kind of dialogue and cooperation on a range
of policies and develop initiatives to support and supplement these efforts. We
ask our Finance Ministers, working closely with their Central Bank colleagues,
to accelerate their work launched in Cebu in April on the collaborative
initiatives to promote the development of our financial and capital markets,
and to support freer and stable capital flows in the region. APEC can play a
particularly valuable role in exploring ways, in cooperation with the World
Bank, the IMF, and the Asian Development Bank, of intensifying its economic and
technical cooperation, giving priority to upgrading financial systems,
enhancing cooperation among market regulators and supervisors and other
measures to help improve the integrity and functioning of financial markets. A
good example of private-public partnership in these areas is the
recently-announced Toronto Centre for Executive Development of Financial Sector
Supervisors.
We look to our Finance
Ministers to report on progress on all of these initiatives early in the new
year and to concrete outcomes at their next meeting.
4. APEC must play an
increasing role in addressing such challenges. We are resolved to work together
to achieve concrete results through dialogue and problem-solving. Recognizing
the diverse interests and circumstances of its membership, APEC has given rise
to entirely new approaches to international economic cooperation. Based on
three mutually supportive pillars -- trade and investment liberalization,
business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation -- the APEC
approach addresses regional challenges and opportunities in an integrated
fashion so that all members develop the capacity to participate fully in and
benefit from this cooperation. By connecting the community APEC has helped us to
build relationships and share knowledge to improve the well-being of our
citizens. These partnerships enhance our prosperity and progress, enrich our
lives and foster the spirit of the APEC community.
A Year of Action - Key Results
5. We welcome the concrete
results achieved this year in implementing the trade and investment
liberalization commitments we set out at Subic Bay. We recognize efforts made
by members to improve the commitments in their Individual Action Plans. APEC's
collective achievement in enhancing the comparability and transparency of these
plans is important in ensuring that our undertakings are well understood in the
marketplace. The views of the private sector are critical to ensuring that
APEC's efforts remain focused and on target. In this regard, we welcome the
review of the Manila Action Plan for APEC which was carried out by the APEC
Business Advisory Council, and instruct our ministers to take ABAC's views into
consideration in the preparation of future plans. As Individual Action Plans
remain the core mechanism for APEC's trade and investment liberalization
activity, we reaffirm our commitment to their annual improvement.
6. APEC's liberalization
proceeds on a voluntary basis, propelled by commitments taken at the highest
level. In this regard, we welcome the action taken to accelerate by two years
the time table for the identification of sectors for early voluntary
liberalization, a decision that underlines our determination to advance the
pace of liberalization in the region and globally. We endorse the agreement of
our Ministers that action should be taken with respect to early voluntary
liberalization in 15 sectors, with nine to be advanced throughout 1998 with a
view to implementation beginning in 1999. We find this package to be mutually
beneficial and to represent a balance of interests. We instruct Ministers
responsible for trade to finalize detailed targets and timelines by their next
meeting in June 1998. To sustain this momentum, we further instruct that the
additional sectors nominated by members this year to be brought forward for
consideration of additional action next year. We underline our commitment to
comprehensive liberalization, as stated in the Osaka Action Agenda.
7. Among multilateral and
regional fora, APEC is a pioneer in the area of trade and investment
facilitation. Our business community tells us that this is the area of APEC
activity of most immediate relevance to them. Lowering costs, eliminating
red-tape and delay, promoting regulatory reform, developing mutual recognition
arrangements on standards and conformance, and increasing predictability are
clear benefits, especially to operators of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Blueprint for APEC Customs Modernization, which puts forward a comprehensive
program to harmonize and simplify customs clearances by the year 2000, provides
a model. We urge the acceleration of trade and investment facilitation through
APEC's Collective Action Plans and direct Ministers to use APEC's economic and
technical cooperation activities to build capacity, adapt procedures and
incorporate new technologies.
8. On the eve of the 50th
anniversary of the GATT we reflected on the rich legacy it has conferred
through the encouragement of open trade regimes. We reaffirm the primacy of the
open, rules-based multilateral trading system under the WTO and reiterate our
commitment to APEC's activity proceeding on the basis of open regionalism. We
invite trading partners outside APEC to follow suit.
Full and active
participation in and support of the WTO by all APEC economies is key to our
ability to continue to strengthen the global trading system. We encourage the
acceleration of substantive negotiations on protocol issues and market access
with a view to achieving universality of WTO membership. We reaffirm our
undertaking to implement fully all existing WTO commitments and the built-in
agenda of the WTO according to agreed timetables. We also challenge the WTO to
build on APEC's efforts towards further broad-based multilateral liberalization.
We note with pleasure the leadership that APEC has demonstrated in advancing in
the WTO the conclusion of Agreements on Information Technology and Basic
Telecommunications. We undertake to work in a determined fashion to achieve a
successful conclusion to WTO negotiations on financial services by the agreed
deadline of December 12, 1997. As agreed by our finance and trade Ministers, a
successful conclusion would include an MFN agreement based on significantly
improved commitments. This result will enhance competition within our financial
systems, foster development of regional capital markets, promote financial
integration, improve the regional capacity to intermediate savings and
strengthen our economies' resilience in the face of external shocks.
9. We are pleased with the
progress that has been made in implementing the 1996 Framework for
Strengthening Economic Cooperation and Development in APEC, and call on
Ministers and officials to focus on addressing the key challenges identified
therein. We direct Ministers to give all elements of the Framework equal weight
and attention, and to be mindful of its indivisibility as an integrated set of
objectives requiring coordination and communication across the APEC agenda. We
applaud the effort in 1997 to apply this Framework approach to APEC's work on
two key challenges in the region -- infrastructure and sustainable development.
We direct Ministers to focus further efforts on capacity-building in 1998
through work on developing human resources and harnessing technologies of the
future to enable all members of the APEC community to benefit more fully from
trade liberalization.
10. Meetings of Ministers
responsible for finance and trade provided early impetus for APEC's work in
1997. We commend their activities as a direct contribution to our goal for
sustainable growth and equitable development. We are also gratified by the
substantial contributions that Ministers responsible for environment,
transportation, energy, small and medium-sized enterprises, and human resource
development have made in 1997 to APEC's work. We welcome the progress of APEC
fora in involving business, academics and other experts, women and youth in
1997 activities, and encourage them to continue these efforts.
11. APEC members share a
belief in the contribution of free markets to achieving our growth and
employment objectives. While they have a clear role in managing the impacts of
economic transition, governments alone cannot solve the complex questions posed
by our interconnected world. We are pleased to note a leap in business
involvement in all levels of APEC activity this year. As Leaders, we have
profited from our dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council. We commend
their initiative in increasing their exchanges with Ministers and Senior
Officials. We will reflect on recommendations set out in ABAC's 1997 Call to
Action. We also welcome ABAC's intention to establish a Partnership for
Equitable Growth, and express appreciation for recommendations on diverse and
important issues such as standards, business mobility and capital market
development. We stress the need for APEC to broaden its outreach to a wider
segment of the business community.
Noteworthy in 1997 has been
the wealth of APEC activities and initiatives in support of small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although ours is a region of traders, many
SMEs encounter obstacles to their full participation. We stress the importance
of strengthening our SME sectors, to allow them to take advantage of linkages into
regional trade and investment opportunities by promoting a business environment
that stimulates creation of new enterprises. We commend the fact that many
specialized APEC fora have developed programs to address the needs of SMEs. We
take note of the priorities and approaches set out in APEC's 1997 Framework for
SMEs, and instruct Ministers to ensure they are applied.
A Vision for the 21st Century
12. Connecting APEC's
instruments -- Intense growth in the economies of Asia-Pacific over the past
decade has had far reaching impacts on our societies. Growth and employment, as
well as improved incomes and quality of life, are welcome benefits. In all of
our societies these positive outcomes have been accompanied by structural and
environmental pressures. Globalization has emerged as a reality. Rapid
urbanization and advances in information technology are transforming our
cityscapes, as well as the way in which we interact. Our ability to adapt to
new developments will determine our success in achieving sustainable and
equitable development among and within societies in the region. We applaud the
efforts made this year to integrate APEC's instruments -- liberalization,
facilitation and economic and technical cooperation -- in addressing emerging challenges.
13. Connecting with our
constituents: We stress our common belief that ongoing and ambitious trade and
investment liberalization remains indispensable to the health of our economies.
To underpin our efforts, support among the people of the region for continuing
trade and investment liberalization is essential. We welcome the decision by
Ministers to develop an APEC-wide work program to assess the full impacts of
trade liberalization, including its positive effects on growth and employment,
and to assist members in managing associated adjustments.
14. Connecting our
economies: Our discussions today have focussed on regional infrastructure
requirements in support of economic and social development. We endorse the work
that has been carried out this year on infrastructure applications to make city
life more sustainable, in particular the Sustainable Cities Program of Action.
The rapid growth of urban centres poses daunting challenges such as
bottlenecks, supply constraints, as well as health and environmental concerns.
Governments must strive to ensure adequate access to infrastructure for people
in all walks of life, urban or rural. Capacity building through economic and
technical cooperation is essential to ensure the ability of all economies to address
these critical challenges.
Infrastructure is
inextricably linked to the questions of financial stability that we have
addressed. In addressing regional infrastructure decisions, governments and
business must work together to ensure that long-term financial sustainability
is adequately considered. Cooperation with business and international financial
institutions and development banks can be critical to achieving optimal project
planning. We endorse the attached Vancouver Framework for Enhanced Public-Private
Partnerships for Infrastructure Development. We also are pleased by the
agreement to enhance cooperation among Export Credit Agencies and Export
Financing Institutions in support of regional infrastructure development, as
well as agreement to undertake a feasibility study on a Network of
Infrastructure Facilitation Centres to encourage information sharing and
transparency. Recognizing the importance of telecommunications and information
technology for building an Asia-Pacific information society, we agree that the
Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure is an essential basis for ensuring the
competitiveness of the region in the 21st Century.
15. Connecting
electronically: We agree that electronic commerce is one of the most important
technological breakthroughs of this decade. We direct Ministers to undertake a
work program on electronic commerce in the region, taking into account relevant
activities of other international fora, and to report to us in Kuala Lumpur.
This initiative should recognize the leading role of the business sector and
promote a predictable and consistent legal and regulatory environment that
enables all APEC economies to reap the benefits of electronic commerce.
16. Connecting science and
technology: In view of the growing role of science and technology in promoting
economic growth and its close linkages to trade and investment flows, we direct
Ministers to formulate an APEC Agenda for Science and Technology Industry
Cooperation into the 21st Century, and present it to us in Kuala Lumpur. We
also welcome other regional networks to strengthen science and technology
linkages, including the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU).
17. Connecting the issues:
Achieving sustainable development remains at the heart of APEC's mandate.
Equity, poverty alleviation and quality of life are central considerations, and
must be addressed as an integral part of sustainable development. We have made
a commitment to advance sustainable development across the entire scope of our
workplan. We welcome the results of the multi-sectoral symposium on
relationships among food and energy and the environment under the pressures of
rapid economic and population growth, as well as the interim report we have
received. We look forward to presentation of a more detailed and
action-oriented report in 1998.
18. Connecting efforts on
climate change: We recognize the importance of accelerating action on a global
level to deal with emissions of greenhouse gases. We affirm that this issue is
of vital significance, and that it requires cooperative efforts by the
international community, in accordance with the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities. We emphasize our strong support for a
successful outcome to the Third Conference of the Parties in furthering the
objectives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN-FCCC). We note
that all APEC members can make important contributions to this effort. We also
agree that the enhancement of energy efficiency plays an important role in
addressing climate change. We affirm the importance of flexible and
cost-effective cooperative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
including by promoting the development and diffusion of beneficial
technologies. We recognize the legitimate needs of developing economies to
promote their sustainable development in furthering the objectives of the
UN-FCCC and, in this respect, the importance of enhancing the availability of
beneficial technologies.
19. Connecting emergency
response: We recognize that unexpected disasters which affect one of us can
affect all of us, and that we can benefit from sharing expertise and
collaborating on emergency preparedness and response. We welcome the initiative
of Ministers in this regard.
20. Connecting the people
of Asia-Pacific: Continued prosperity in the region will depend heavily on our
willingness and our ability to vest the next generation of leaders of the
region with the skills and knowledge they require. We applaud the initiative to
involve youth throughout APEC's 1997 activities. Education and skill-building
remain key objectives for long-term employment of our youth, and we call on
Ministers to work with young people, academics, workers and business to share
approaches on successful transitions from the learning environment to the work
force. We welcome the Electronic Source Book on work, study and exchange
opportunities in the region, the establishment and development of the APEC
Education Foundation, and the APEC Youth Skills Camp and the APEC Youth Science
and Technology Festival, both to be held in 1998, in Seoul. We appreciate the
offer by Singapore to establish an APEC Education Hub, which includes the
granting of scholarships to APEC students. We welcome the holding of a
Ministerial Conference on Education in 1999 in Singapore to explore the
possibility to expand this initiative, offering quality programmes to students
in the region.
We believe APEC should take
specific steps to reinforce the important role of women in economic
development. We welcome the offer of the Philippines to host a Ministerial
Meeting on Women in 1998 in Manila, to take stock of progress to date in
involving women in APEC's agenda and to determine next steps to integrate women
into the mainstream of APEC's activities.
21. Spanning twelve time
zones from St. John's to Sumatra, APEC bridges both distance and diversity.
Through a combination of concrete results and renewed vision, the spirit of
community which unites us has been strengthened and broadened this year. The
people of the region remain its greatest asset. As Leaders, we are accountable
for safeguarding and improving their economic and social well-being. Our people
are the foundation on which the APEC community is built. We commit ourselves to
ensuring that APEC remains responsive to their concerns.
