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APEC Leaders' 8th Annual Meeting Concludes in Brunei
The 8th informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) concluded in Bandar Seri Begawan Thursday with a declaration stating their views on major issues including globalization, new economy, multilateral trading system, economic and technical cooperation and the issue of rising oil prices.
In the declaration issued at the end of the one-day annual meeting at the Jerudong Park Polo Club, some 15 kilometers from here, the leaders reaffirmed their confidence in the APEC vision of a community of open and interdependent economies and renewed their determination to bring this vision into reality through shared commitments to free and open trade and investment and through wide ranging cooperation.
Encouraged by the improvement in economic and social conditions in the economies affected by the crisis and by the signs of a return to strong economic growth in the region, the leaders however noted the risks posed by the volatility in the oil prices to the recovery of the world economy.
Calling for appropriate measures to promote stability in the mutual interests of consumers and producers, the leaders welcomed the efforts made this year by APEC members to balance oil markets and noted the many on-going cooperation activities within the APEC which will help reduce vulnerability and promote market stability.
On Managing globalization, the leaders said they are convinced that the movement towards global integration holds the greatest opportunity to deliver higher living standards and social well-being for their communities and acknowledged that meeting the wide range of social and economic challenges that globalization poses will not always be easy.
"We resolve to address the wide disparities in wealth and knowledge and bring the benefits of globalization to all our people," they said in the declaration.
"Our ability to reap the benefits of globalization will depend on the capacity of our economies and our people to cope with on-going change. APEC's economic and technical cooperation programs are already making a positive contribution to this process but we believe they can be strengthened."
The leaders therefore instructed their ministers to make renewed efforts in APEC work on developing strategies to manage the required structural adjustments more effectively, to better prepare APEC for the future.
On the new economy, the leaders said the revolution in the information and communication technology is boosting the development of a global economy as it carries with it unprecedented opportunities in a new style of economy.
"However, we realize that the technology and the benefits it can bring have not yet reached millions of our people. Our vision is to prepare each of our economies and all our people to use the technology revolution as a passport to the fruits of globalization."
At the meeting, the leaders launched a wide ranging Action Agenda for the new economy that outlines programs that will help member economies use advances in information technology to boost productivity and stimulate growth and extend services to the whole community.
The Action Agenda includes ways to promote the right policy environment and build capacity to help create a framework to strengthen markets, electronic commerce, infrastructure, knowledge and skills development, and provide affordable and more efficient access to communications and the Internet.
"In this era of globalization, a fair and rules-based multilateral trading system is even more crucial to our success and prosperity. The system should respond to the challenge of the 21st century."
Reiterating the need to expeditiously launch a new round of talks of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the benefit of all WTO members, particularly least-developed and developing economies, the leaders agreed that a balanced and sufficiently broad-based agenda that responds to the interests and concerns of all WTO members should be formulated and finalized as soon as possible in 2001 and that a new round of talks be launched in 2001.
To increase momentum towards the launch of a new round of talks, the leaders welcomed the progress made to develop the strategic APEC plan on building capacity to implement WTO agreements and endorsed the strategic plan.
The leaders welcomed the substantial progress that has been made over the past years in the WTO accession negotiations for China and urged rapid completion of these negotiations so that China can join as soon as possible.
The leaders also supported rapid accession to the WTO by Chinese Taipei and the advancement of the accession processes of Russia and Vietnam.
Noting the recent developments in regional trade arrangements in the Asia Pacific region, the leaders agreed that regional and bilateral trade agreements should serve as building blocks for multilateral liberalization in the WTO and should be consistent with WTO rules and disciplines.
Leaders and their representatives of the 21 APEC member economies except Papua New Guinea attended this year's meeting.
China will hold the next APEC leaders' annual meeting in Shanghai next year.
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