APEC SOM Opens in ShanghaiAttending the meeting were senior officials of various APEC economies, who will focus on the final preparations for the upcoming APEC meetings. The APEC SOM is held regularly prior to the ministerial meeting. Senior officials have held three meetings in the cities of Beijing, Shenzhen and Dalian, respectively, this year. 2001 APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in ChinaAn informal Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Senior Officials Meeting (APEC SOM) opened Monday in Shanghai to finalize the agenda for the 13th Ministerial Conference slated for October 17-18.The current two-day event is an additional meeting to the three Senior Officials Meetings (SOM) convened in China so far this year. The APEC SOM I, chaired by Wang Guangya, vice foreign minister of China and SOM chairman, was held on February 12-13 in Beijing, China. It made an overall assessment of the role and future direction of APEC as well as the current environment it faces, including the latest macro-economic developments. The officials discussed the regional economic situation, globalization, the new economy, and efforts to promote the liberalization of trade and investment and economic and technical cooperation. They agreed to establish a special working group to outline the goals and guidelines for the development of information technology and e-commerce in the Asia-Pacific region, on the basis of the Action Agenda on the New Economy set forth last year. The APEC SOM II, presided over by Wang Guangya, was held on June 1-3 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. Senior officials from the 21 APEC economies discussed trade and investment liberalization, economic and technical cooperation within APEC, the E-APEC plan, the new economy and regional macro- policy dialogue. At the meeting, consensus was reached on advancing trade and investment liberalization and facilitation (TILF) and rendering full support for an early launch of the new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) trade talks. The participants also discussed the proposals for the improvement of Individual Action Plans (IAPs) submitted by member economies and agreed on developing an "Ecotech Action Plan" (EAP). The APEC SOM III, presided over by Wang Guangya, took place on August 16-24 in Dalian, Liaoning Province of China, at which senior officials discussed how to strengthen the multilateral trading system, APEC trade and investment liberalization and facilitation (TILF), human capacity building, economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH), and formulation of e-APEC strategy. They also reviewed the Osaka Action Agenda (OAA) and endorsed the framework of an e-APEC Strategy developed by the e- APEC Task Force. The Senior Officials Meetings, which began in 1989, had previously been held in Australia, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the United States, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and Brunei Darussalam. The 2002 APEC SOM will be hosted by Mexico. |
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