APEC Economic Leaders' Declaration for Action
Osaka, Japan
November 19, 1995
1. We have gathered in Osaka to further advance the Asia-Pacific
economic dynamism and sense of community. The Asia-Pacific is experiencing
the most striking economic growth in the world and ever-increasing
interdependence. It is a major contributor to global prosperity
and stability.
We believe our economic reforms based on market-oriented mechanisms
have unleashed our peoples' creativity and energy and enhanced the
prosperity and living standards of our citizens in the region and
the world as a whole. In the current climate in our vast and diverse
Asia-Pacific region, APEC presents us with a golden opportunity
for the 21st century. Through APEC we can harness, coordinate, and
channel dynamic economic trends to our collective advantage.
2. At Blake Island we established the vision of a community of
Asia-Pacific economies, and at Bogor we set a number of specific
goals and objectives, including:
- free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific no later
than 2010 in the case of industrialized economies and 2020 in
the case of developing economies,
- expansion and acceleration of trade and investment facilitation
programs, and
- intensified development cooperation to attain sustainable growth,
equitable development, and national stability.
We have, with Osaka, entered the action phase in translating this
vision and these goals into reality. Today we adopt the Osaka Action
Agenda, the embodiment of our political will, to carry through our
commitment at Bogor. We will implement the Action Agenda with unwavering
resolve.
3. The Osaka Action Agenda is the template for future APEC work
toward our common goals. It represents the three pillars of trade
and investment liberalization, their facilitation, and economic
and technical cooperation. Achieving sustained economic development
throughout the APEC region depends on pursuing actions in each of
these areas vigorously.
Reflecting the diverse character of APEC and the broad scope of
our activities, we will achieve the long-term goal of free and open
trade and investment in several ways. We will:
- encourage and concert the evolving efforts of voluntary liberalization
in the region,
- take collective actions to advance our liberalization and facilitation
objectives, and
- stimulate and contribute to further momentum for global liberalization.
4. We emphasize our resolute opposition to an inward-looking trading
bloc that would divert from the pursuit of global free trade, and
we commit ourselves to firmly maintaining open regional cooperation.
We reaffirm our determination to see APEC take the lead in strengthening
the open multilateral trading system. We trust that enlarged participation
by APEC economies in the WTO would facilitate greater regional cooperation.
We will explore joint initiatives under the WTO, including preparations
for the Ministerial Meeting in Singapore. Ensuring that APEC remains
consistent with the WTO Agreement, we will achieve trade and investment
liberalization steadily and progressively.
Desiring that trade and economic tensions among APEC economies
be resolved in a non-confrontational manner, we are committed to
finding ways of ameliorating trade friction. We agree on the desirability
of an APEC dispute mediation service, without prejudice to rights
and obligations under the WTO Agreement and other international
agreements.
5. In the Action Agenda we have agreed to a set of fundamental
principles to guide the achievement of our liberalization and facilitation:
comprehensiveness; WTO consistency; comparability; non-discrimination;
transparency; standstill; simultaneous start, continuous process,
and differentiated time tables; flexibility; and cooperation. We
direct our ministers and officials to immediately begin the preparation
of concrete and substantive Action Plans to be submitted to the
1996 Ministerial Meeting in the Philippines for assessment. Overall
implementation of the Action Plans will begin in January 1997 and
will be reviewed annually.
To assist in this process, we instruct our ministers and officials
to engage in consultation in a collective effort of a confidence-building
nature to facilitate exchanges of information, to ensure transparency,
and to contribute toward attaining the comparability of respective
Action Plans.
The Action Agenda may be revised and improved as necessary in response
to changing circumstances. While we have chosen the unique approach
of concerted liberalization grounded in voluntarism and collective
initiatives by the member economies as the key means for implementing
the Action Agenda, its success hinges upon our own continuing efforts,
strong self-discipline, and close consultation.
6 . Governed by the Osaka Action Agenda's principles of mutual
respect and equality, mutual benefit and assistance, constructive
and genuine partnership, and consensus building, we will promote
action-oriented economic and technical cooperation in a wide range
of areas. With the Action Agenda, APEC has gained renewed momentum
and broader perspective for economic and technical cooperation.
Economic and technical cooperation implemented through various
means including Partners for Progress serves to promote trade and
investment liberalization and facilitation, to narrow the disparities
within the region, and to achieve growth and prosperity for the
region as a whole. We will thus work through policy dialogue and
joint activities to broaden and deepen intra-regional cooperation
in all areas of our interest. At the ministerial level, valuable
consultations have been held on macroeconomic, financial, exchange
rate, and other policies regarding capital flows, capital market
development, and infrastructure financing. We also commend the valuable
contribution at the ministerial level in such fields as telecommunications
and information industry, transportation, small and medium enterprises,
and science and technology. We hope that they will continue their
good efforts.
7. We are pleased to announce that each of us has brought a package
of initial actions demonstrating our firm commitment to achieving
liberalization and facilitation. These voluntary actions will spur
and inspire APEC liberalization. They also represent the first wide-ranging
initiatives to accelerate the implementation of our Uruguay Round
commitments and to deepen and broaden the outcome of the Uruguay
Round through, for example, acceleration of tariff reductions, early
implementation of WTO agreements, and pursuance of deregulation.
Together with these measures, our collective actions including harmonizing
and enhancing the efficiency of customs procedures and promoting
mutual recognition and improving conformity assessment capabilities
will yield immediate and tangible benefits for business. We urge
non-APEC economies to follow suit and help advance global trade
and investment liberalization.
8. The Eminent Persons Group and the Pacific Business Forum have
made important contributions to the formulation of the Osaka Action
Agenda. Highly appreciative of the dedication and wisdom of the
people who took part in the process, we congratulate them on the
successful completion of their task.
Recognizing that business is the source of vitality for the Asia-Pacific
and the driving force for regional economic development, we will
appoint the members of the APEC Business Advisory Council to provide
insights and counsel for our APEC activities.
9. Our ambitious attempt to promote wide-ranging regional cooperation
and foster the spirit of community in the Asia-Pacific will doubtless
encounter numerous new challenges and incur new responsibilities
despite, or perhaps because of, our economic growth. The Asia-Pacific
region's fast-expanding population and rapid economic growth are
forecast to sharply increase the demand for food and energy and
the pressures on the environment. We are agreed on the need to put
these inter-related, wide-ranging issues on our long-term agenda
and consult further on ways to initiate joint action so as to ensure
the region's economic prosperity is sustainable.
Through our actions, we affirm the vital importance of expanding
and strengthening the shared interests which are the foundation
of APEC and of forging relationships of trust among our peoples.
We pledge to go forward together to meet the challenges ahead.
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