APEC ECONOMIC LEADERS DECLARATION: FROM VISION TO ACTION
Subic, The Philippines
November 25, 1996
1. We, the Economic Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum, met today in Subic, the Philippines, for our fourth annual
meeting. Our collective achievements of sustained economic growth,
increased employment, and regional stability are the result of our
shared commitment to growth-oriented policies, the broadest participation
in the regional and global economy, and an environment of stability
and security. We came to Subic to strengthen this commitment and
to reaffirm that the ultimate objective of our individual and collective
endeavors is to enrich the lives and to improve the standards of
living of all our citizens on a substantial basis.
2. At Blake Island three years ago, we committed ourselves to "deepening
our spirit of community based on our shared vision of achieving
stability, security and prosperity for our peoples". In Bogor
a year after, we began the process of realizing this vision by committing
ourselves to the goals of free and open trade and investment in
the region. Last year in Osaka, we agreed on the framework of our
future work to reach our common goals built through trade and investment
liberalization, trade and investment facilitation, and economic
and technical cooperation.
3. Today in Subic, we have deepened the spirit of community in
the Asia-Pacific region and have affirmed our commitment to sustainable
growth and equitable development.
4. We have:
- launched the implementation phase of our free and open trade
and investment agenda,
- delivered business facilitation measures,
- agreed to advance common goals in the World Trade Organization,
- developed ways to strengthen economic and technical cooperation,
and
- engaged the business sector as a full partner in the APEC process.
Manila Action Plan for APEC
5. We have brought to Subic our individual and collective initiatives
in fulfillment of our voluntary commitment to implement the Osaka
Action Agenda. We shall implement these initiatives, presented as
the Manila Action Plan for APEC (MAPA), beginning 1 January 1997.
6. MAPA contains the first steps of an evolutionary process of
progressive and comprehensive trade and investment liberalization
toward achieving our Bogor goals by 2010/2020, in accordance with
the Osaka Agenda. We are determined to sustain the dynamism of our
plans through a continuous process of review and consultations.
We are committed to build on MAPA, and to improve our individual
action plans, including their comparability and comprehensiveness.
7. To this end, we welcome the decision of ministers to meet in
1997 to review the individual action plans, taking into account
the views of the private sector. We ask that they report the results
to us when we meet next year.
8. We further instruct our ministers to identify sectors where
early voluntary liberalization would have a positive impact on trade,
investment, and economic growth in the individual APEC economies
as well as in the region, and submit to us their recommendations
on how this can be achieved.
9. We also commend to our citizens the results of APEC¡¯s work on
collective actions which are the first harvest of seeds sown at
Bogor and Osaka and which will facilitate the conduct of business
in and between APEC economies, increasing competitiveness and reducing
transaction costs. This year, we have made our tariff regimes more
transparent. WE have agreed to harmonize our tariff nomenclature
by the end of this year and our customs clearance procedures by
1998. WE have agreed to align our national standards with international
standards and to recognize each other¡¯s national standards.
10. We direct our ministers to intensify work in 1997 on simplification
of customs clearance procedures, effective implementation of intellectual
property rights commitments, harmonization of customs valuation,
facilitation of comprehensive trade in services, and enhancing the
environment for investments.
Multilateral Trading System
11. We reaffirm the primacy of an open, multilateral trading system
based on the WTO. We consider it essential that regional and multilateral
trade and investment should support and reinforce each other. We
applaud the efforts of APEC members which extend to all economies
the benefits derived from sub-regional arrangements. We are determined
that the far reaching liberalization measures to which we have voluntarily
committed ourselves in APEC, and the significant opening already
underway in all our economies, will serve as a catalyst for further
liberalization of the multilateral trading system. We call on WTO
members to build on the process of progressive liberalization and
enhanced transparency which we have initiated in APEC.
12. We affirm our determination to ensure that the first WTO Ministerial
Conference, which is being held in an APEC member economy, generates
the dynamism and purpose necessary for strengthening the multilateral
rules-based Uruguay Round commitments by each WTO member. We urge
all members to make determined efforts to complete outstanding negotiations
in the telecommunications and financial services sectors, and to
establish a substantive and balanced program of further work that
will move WTO forward.
13. We endorse initiatives for freer and non-discriminatory trade
in goods and services. Recognizing the importance of information
technology in the 21st century, APEC Leaders call for the conclusion
of an information technology agreement by the WTO Ministerial Conference
that would substantially eliminate tariffs by the year 2000, recognizing
need for flexibility as negotiations in Geneva proceed.
14. We encourage the acceleration of substantive negotiations on
protocol issues and market access with a view to achieving universality
of WTO membership.
Economic and Technical Cooperation
15. We recognize that our vision of community can be strengthened
only if our efforts benefit all citizens. As an essential complement
to our trade and investment liberalization agenda, economic and
technical cooperation helps APEC members to participate more fully
in and benefit from an open global trading environment, thus ensuring
that liberalized trade contributes to sustainable growth and equitable
development and to a reduction in economic disparities.
16. This year, we have advanced our work on economic and technical
cooperation significantly. To give it further impetus, we endorse
the declaration of a framework of principles for economic cooperation
and development in APEC adopted by ministers. We instruct our ministers
to apply these principles to the activities of relevant APEC fora,
giving a human face to development and thereby assigning high priority
to the following themes: developing human capital; fostering safe,
efficient capital markets; strengthening economic infrastructure;
harnessing technologies of the future; promoting environmentally
sustainable growth; and encouraging the growth of small and medium
enterprises.
17. The implementation of our economic cooperation agenda is based
on a genuine partnership to which all APEC economies contribute.
We direct our ministers, working in partnership with the private
sector, to identify ways to encourage such participation by all
APEC economies. In addition, we ask that they put special emphasis
on the full participation of women and the youth.
18. Promoting rapid economic growth that ensures a healthy environment
and improves the quality of life of our citizens is a fundamental
challenge. In this regard, we welcome the work undertaken in various
APEC fora, including the Meeting of Ministers in charge of Human
Resources Development, Small and Medium Enterprises, Industrial
Science and Technology, Telecommunications, ,Energy, and Sustainable
Development.
19. We direct ministers, in coordination with the private sector,
to develop specific initiatives to implement an initial work program
for sustainable development in APEC that includes the themes of
the sustainability of the marine environment, clean technology and
clean production, and sustainable cities. We call on ministers to
intensify work on sustainable growth and to report on their progress
at our meeting in Vancouver in 1997. We note the work already underway
on the interrelated issues of food, energy, environment, economic
growth, and population. We agree to push for further progress on
these important issues, in light of the various international fora
being convened next year to address these issues.
20. We endorse the findings of our finance ministers, reaffirming
the importance of sound macroeconomic policies in maintaining stable
capital flows and exchange rates, accelerating the development of
domestic financial and capital markets in the region, and stimulating
private sector participation in infrastructure development. We call
on them to pursue concrete and practical measures to achieve these
objectives.
21. Lack of infrastructure severely contains sustained growth.
Since public finance cannot fully meet the enormous requirements
of the region, private sector investment must be mobilized. Providing
the appropriate financial, economic, commercial and regulatory environment
is the key to stimulating such investments. We direct the relevant
ministers to work together with private sector representatives and
with national/international financial institutions, including export
credit agencies, and develop a framework for this purpose.
Role of the Business Sector
22. We affirm the central role of the business sector in the APEC
process. This year, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) was
organized and convened at our request. We thank ABAC for its valuable
work and ask our ministers to work closely with the business sector
next year to examine ways of implementing ABAC recommendations.
23. We ask in particular that they consider ABAC¡¯s call to facilitate
the movement of business people, enhance investment flows, strengthen
investment protection in terms of transparency, predictability,
arbitration and enforcement of contracts, align professional standards
in the region, involve the private sector in infrastructure planning,
develop policies supportive of small and medium enterprises, and
encourage greater business sector participation in economic and
technical cooperation.
24. We welcome the opportunity to dialogue with the business sector
and note with appreciation the Philippine initiative to convene
the APEC Business Forum.
A Shared Vision
25. We recognize that the strength of APEC is derived from its
diversity and that we are bound by a shared vision of community.
Thus, deepening the spirit of community in accordance with the APEC
approach is critical in exerting a positive influence on the region
and on the world. This vision of community requires that all sectors
of society develop a stake in the success of APEC. We therefore
commit ourselves to foster greater public-private sector partnership
in APEC. We also place great value on promoting more people-to-people
linkages, particularly those in education and business.
26. Finally, we express full confidence that the APEC process will
produce substantial, concrete, measurable and sustainable results
which will tangibly improve the lives of all our citizens by the
turn of the century.
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