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ISOM Chair on 'Shanghai Accord' and 'Digital Divide'
APEC senior officials reached agreement on trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, economic and technical cooperation and APEC outreach strategy, Wang Guangya said on Monday.
Wang, chair of the Informal Senior Officials Meeting (ISOM) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), told reporters that the ISOM "finished earlier than scheduled" due to support from senior officials from the 21 APEC economies.
The ISOM, which was scheduled as a two-day event additional to the three SOMs held this year in China, finalized the agenda for the October 17-18 Ministerial Conference just in one day time.
The participants also agreed on pushing an early launch of the new round of the World Trade Organization trade talks and approved the results of the Osaka Action Agenda and the improvement of Individual Action Plan.
Wang said that the senior officials "laid the groundwork well" for the APEC economic leaders' informal meeting slated for October 20-21 in Shanghai.
SOM Chair on Shanghai Accord Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have reached consensus on main contents of the projected Shanghai Accord, vice-foreign minister Wang Guangya said.
Shanghai Accord is a document expected to be approved at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, which aims to strengthen the capacity of all APEC members in terms of two aspects, namely, the trade and investment liberalization and facilitation (TILF), and economic and technical cooperation (Ecotech).
"All members are serious about the documentation of the accord, " said Wang, who is also chair of the APEC Informal Senior Official Meeting (SOM), which concluded here Monday afternoon, one day ahead of schedule.
"Under the current difficult circumstances, APEC needs to push more vigor and dynamism into the APEC process, so as to make sure that APEC members are serious about their commitments," Wang said.
According to the Bogor Goals, the developed and developing economies of the APEC will achieve trade and investment liberalization by 2010 and 2020, respectively. TILF and Ecotech are known as the two wheels of the APEC, with APEC's developed economies stressing importance on the former while the developing economies valuing greatly on the latter.
Senior officials from all APEC economies will continue to discuss the finalization of the Shanghai Accord Tuesday, Wang said.
APEC to Narrow "Digital Divide" Wang said that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is making efforts to narrow the "digital divide " among its member economies.
The APEC has attached importance to the "digital divide" among its members and it has an ambitious objective to build a digital society in the APEC region, Wang said.
For this purpose, the SOM endorsed the e-APEC Strategy worked out by the e-APEC Task Force in creating an environment for strengthening market structures and institutions, infrastructure and technology development, as well as building human capacity and entrepreneurship, according to the SOM chair.
The SOM will deliver the strategy to the APEC ministerial meeting and APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in response to the call of the fast pace of New Economy development, Wang said.
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