Roundup: APEC SOM Lays Solid Ground for Leaders' MeetingThe Third Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM III) of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which ended Friday in Dalian, has yielded positive results and made substantial progress, thus laying a solid foundation for the October APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and Ministerial Meeting in Shanghai.Wang Guangya, Chinese vice foreign minister and SOM chair, said that senior officials, with a flexible, practical and cooperative approach, were satisfied with progress made. The officials all believe that the leaders' meeting and ministerial meeting will be a success and exert vital impact on APEC development, Wang said. SOM III is the last formal SOM meeting of the year. On trade and investment liberalization, senior officials agreed that the October leaders' meeting and ministerial meeting is a good opportunity to help launch a new round of talks of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and welcomed China's impending entry to the WTO. They also exchanged views on specific programs regarding realizing Bogor Goals. A Chinese official said he felt optimistic over reaching consensus on the issue before the leaders' meeting. It is learned that nine members have presented specific action plans for economic and technical cooperation. Hailing the frameworks of the e-APEC actin plan, senior officials discussed proposals concerning the follow-ups on Human Capacity Building High Level Meeting held in Beijing in May. Meanwhile, at SOM related meetings, the Investment Experts' Group was optimistic over prospects of economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, urging all members to enhance cooperation and reduce trade barriers, so as to create favorable conditions for trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. The SOM Sub-committee on Standards and Conformance reached consensus on standard alignment, cooperation on technical infrastructure construction and transparency. The SOM E-Commerce Steering Group has in principle passed the proposal for strengthening the economic and technical cooperation among APEC economies in the e-commerce and agreed to set up an Asia Pacific e-commerce business alliance, which is aimed to enhance e-commerce exchanges and application among APEC members. Chinese senior official Wu Hailong noted that enhancing the role of APEC and increasing China's economic and trade cooperation with other APEC economies are beneficial to China's reform and opening up, and economic development. Lawrence Greenwood, senior official of the United States, said that this year's APEC meetings "worked well" and progress has been made in moving towards Bogor timetable, human capacity building, economic and financial cooperation, thus moving all APEC economies forward together. Canadian senior official Joseph Caron, who is also new ambassador to China, termed SOM III as the most important SOM meeting, saying that cooperation fields among APEC should be widened so as to enhance ties among APEC economies. Indonesian senior official Makarim Wibisono said as a developing member, "We have moved forward for maintaining the balance between trade and investment liberalization and expansion of economic and technical cooperation." SOM III participants said that human capacity building is needed in narrowing down the development gap between the developing and developed members. Experts hold that the development of APEC is beneficial to sustaining peace and stability, promoting economic growth and developing bilateral ties in the region. And it also conforms with the interests and shared development of all APEC economies. Success of the three SOMs in Beijing, Shenzhen and Dalian, respectively, have time and again demonstrated the strong confidence of China in promoting unity and economic expansion in the region, experts said. |
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