APEC 2010 Theme: Change and Action
2010 marks a milestone for APEC, as the industrialized APEC economies are committed to being assessed on their progress toward achieving the Bogor Goals and member economies are expected to consider the future direction for APEC. Amid the significant changes in global political and economic conditions, APEC Japan 2010 has adopted the theme “Change and Action,” whereby APEC should build upon its past successes to propose necessary “changes” and execute concrete “actions” to ensure that it will continue to play an important role in the future. Specifically, under Japan’s initiative, and in collaboration with the United States as the host of APEC 2011, APEC Japan 2010 seeks to realize accomplishments primarily centered on the following agenda.
APEC 2010 Priorities
1. Regional Economic Integration
The assessment of the achievement of the Bogor Goals for free and open trade and investment by the industrialized economies will be a key effort in 2010. The assessment process should ensure transparency and credibility, while taking into account the input from the economies and stakeholders including international organizations and outside experts. APEC 2010 will also explore a range of possible pathways to achieve the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), report on the outcomes of these efforts, and accelerate regional economic integration by promoting greater convergences among economies in key areas including in services, the digital economy, investment, trade facilitation, rules of origin, and standards / technical barriers to trade.
2. APEC Growth Strategy
At the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Singapore, the leaders recognized the need to develop a new growth paradigm for the changed post-economic crisis landscape, looking beyond supporting economic recovery. They also agreed to put in place this year a comprehensive long-term growth strategy that supports more balanced growth within and across economies, achieves greater inclusiveness in our societies, sustains our environment, and seeks to raise our growth potential through innovation and a knowledge-based econom
3. Human Security
To ensure a safe business environment in the APEC region, APEC Japan 2010 will work to protect individuals and communities and to build capacity in the fields of food security, disaster preparedness, health, and counterterrorism activities.
4. Economic and Technical Cooperation
Economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH) aims to reduce the regional disparities among APEC members and contribute to sustainable growth and balanced development while improving economic and social welfare. ECOTECH supports regional economic integration, the new growth strategy, and human security. It is becoming increasingly important as APEC addresses new issues in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC Japan 2010 will develop guidelines that will serve as pillars for strengthening ECOTECH activities and implement more effective and efficient approaches.
Discussions at the meetings in Singapore 2009
At the 17th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and the 21st APEC Ministerial Meeting, expectations for the 17th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting to contribute to the APEC Growth Strategy were expressed.
2009 Leaders’ Declaration (14, 15 November 2009):
“We will support and develop our small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for more than 90 percent of all businesses in the APEC region and employ between 50 and 80 percent of the workforce. We will assist SMEs to gain better access to global markets, technology and finance as well as to improve their crisis management capabilities.”
2009 Ministerial Meeting Joint Statement (11, 12 November 2009)
“We also look forward to contributions to the inclusive growth agenda by the EC High Level Policy Roundtable and the 17th SME Ministerial Meeting, which will both be hosted by Japan in 2010.”
Points of Discussion at the 17th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting 2010
Based on the above expectations expressed at the 17th APEC Leaders’ Meeting and the 21st APEC Ministerial Meeting, SME Ministers will discuss a long-term growth strategy for SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region under the following theme.
【The17th SMEMM Theme】
Strategy for reinvigorating economic growth with the dual engines of SMEs and the Asia-Pacific Economies
APEC Outline
A Basic Description
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a framework for 21 economies surrounding the Pacific Ocean. Because there is wide variation among the participants in APEC, APEC members are referred to as “economies”. APEC encompasses roughly half of global GDP, population, and trade volume, and it leads world growth as an engine for active trade and investment.
1. History of APEC’s Establishment and its Significance
In the second half of the 1980′s, because of Asian regional economic growth through policies encouraging foreign investment and developments in market integration in Europe and North America, the need arose for a new framework in the Asia-Pacific region based on mutual economic interdependence. In 1998, the “Asia-Pacific Trade Development Research Group” was established within the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (METI’s former name), and it began to deliberate regarding the Asia Pacific region which surrounds Japan.
In 1989, with Japan’s encouragement, then-Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke called for the establishment of a meeting for continuous economic development and regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Following this call, momentum for the APEC initiative began to build up in the US, ASEAN, and others as well, and in the same year the first APEC Ministerial Meeting was held in Canberra. From 1993 onward, the APEC Leaders’ Meeting was initiated through the leadership of the United States.
At present, multilayered and various frameworks exists in the Asia-Pacific region, including ASEAN, ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit*, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In APEC, while coordinating with industrialized economies, such as the United States and Australia, and also engaging in a variety of cooperative efforts with Asian and other developing economies, Japan continues to work toward trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. Japan positively participates in APEC in order to further APEC-wide growth.
Japan is to be the APEC Chair in 2010 (for the second time, as Japan previously chaired in 1995). Future Chair economies are to be Japan (2010), the United States (2011), Russia (2012), and Indonesia (2013).
*: The East Asia Summit is a framework of the leaders of the 10 countries of ASEAN, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand.
2. Basic Principles
In 1994, at the APEC Leaders’ Meeting held in Bogor, Indonesia, the Bogor Goals (“… the industrialized economies [will achieve] the goal of free and open trade and investment no later than the year 2010 and developing economies no later than the year 2020.”) were adopted. APEC members engage in discussion and cooperation with the below 3 fields (APEC’s Three Pillars) as basic principles, aiming to achieve these goals.
- Trade and Investment Liberalization
- Business Facilitation
- Economic and Technical Cooperation
3. APEC Members
The 12 members at the time of APEC’s inauguration in 1989 have expanded to 21 members at present (under a moratorium on expansion until the end of 2010).
| 1989 |
Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; New Zealand; the Philippines; Singapore; Thailand; the United States |
| 1991 |
People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Chinese Taipei |
| 1993 |
Mexico; Papua New Guinea |
| 1994 |
Chile |
| 1998 |
Peru; Russia; Viet Nam |
4. APEC’s Efforts to Date
The APEC Leaders’ Meeting began in 1993 in Seattle, and the Bogor Goals were formulated the following year, in 1994. Thereafter, APEC formulated the Osaka Action Agenda in 1995, the Manila Action Plan for APEC in 1996, the Pusan Roadmap in 2005, the Hanoi Action Plan in 2006, etc. and has made specific efforts and engaged discussion in order to achieve the Bogor Goals. Also, since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, counterterrorism and other security related topics became a part of APEC’s discussion, and following the 2008 global economic crisis, sustainable and inclusive economic growth was also added as a new topic. In this way, APEC has engaged in discussion to respond as a body to any significant global events which have arisen.
Next, in 2010, the industrialized economies face the year they are to achieve the Bogor Goals, and attention is gathering toward this evaluation and the coming presentation of a new direction following recovery from the economic crisis.
Overview of the Meeting Schedule
| Meeting |
Date |
Venue |
| 31st APEC SME Working Group Meeting |
29 September – 30 September 2010 |
Nagaragawa Convention Center
Gifu Miyako Hotel |
| 17th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting |
2 October – 3 October 2010 |
| Related Meetings and Activities |
|
|
Seminar |
27-28 September 2010 |
| METI-RIETI Asia Pacific Symposium on SME |
1 October 2010 |
