WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/472
7 June 2002
(02-3158)
Original:  English
MEETING OF APEC MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRADE
PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO
29-30 MAY 2002
Communication from Mexico
The following Statement of the Chair to the above meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible
for Trade has been received from the Permanent Mi ssion of Mexico with the request that it be
circulated to delegations as well as to Chairpersons of relevant bodies.
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Statement of the Chair
1. APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade met in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to discuss concrete
ways to contribute to fostering economic growth and take advantage of the new economy in the
APEC region, namely the implementation of appropriate policies and measures that should be adopted
to reach those objectives.
2. The meeting took place in a context of increasi ng signs of recovery from the global slowdown
of the world economy experienced since the middle of 2000 and aggravated by the September 11th
events. Within this context, Ministers reaffi rmed APEC member economies' commitment to move
forward with the common goal of free and open trade and investment in order to bring about
economic recovery and sustainable economic growth in the region.
3.  APEC chose the theme “Expanding the benef its of cooperation for economic growth and
development. Implementing the vision”, to guide its work this year. Ministers expressed theirdetermination to ensure concrete outcomes that  benefit business and the wider APEC community
through implementation of the Shanghai Accord and the Leaders Statement on Counter-Terrorism.
4. Ministers welcomed the launching of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) of WTO, and
committed to making meaningful contributions to its successful and timely completion by 2005.
Discussion on specific measures undertaken with in APEC to implement the broadened APEC vision
in response to changes in the global and regional economy also took place.
Multilateral Trading System
5. Ministers welcomed the launch of the WTO Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and noted the
important role that APEC played in achieving th is outcome. Multilateral trade liberalization and a
rules-based trading system contribute directly to economic growth, sustainable development and
poverty reduction. The successful conclusion of th e DDA will therefore be crucial in fostering
development in the region and the world. Ministers welcomed the DDA’s balanced and sufficientlyWT/L/472
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broad-based work programme that reflects the interests and concerns of all WTO Members,
particularly in developing economies. Ministers acknowledged the important contribution that the
successful and timely conclusion of the DDA would make to furthering the economic development of
developing economies.
6. Ministers committed their personal involvement to ensure the completion of the DDA
negotiations by the agreed deadline of 1 January 2005 and to make progress in all the elements of
such agenda including market access, agriculture, trade rules, investment, competition, trade
facilitation and transparency in government procurement.
7. To achieve that commitment, they agreed to meet the mandates and schedules established for
all of the relevant negotiating and working groups and to urge other WTO Members to also do so. In
particular, Ministers confirmed their intentions to meet the deadline of 30 June 2002 for submitting
initial services requests and in ensuring that the non-agricultural market access negotiations progressalong with other negotiations in agriculture. In this regard, Ministers agreed that modalities for non-
agricultural market access negotiations shall be established no later than 30 April 2003, and will
encourage all WTO Members to support this commitment. They expressed the urgency of moving
from procedural to substantive discussions in Geneva. They undertook to work together to build
momentum in Geneva to ensure a successful Fifth Ministerial Conference to be held in Cancun,Mexico on 10-14 September 2003.
8. Ministers reaffirmed their pledge to reject the use of protectionism and their commitment to
abide by multilateral rules. Ministers agreed that protectionism adversely affects all APEC economies
and that the DDA offers the best opportunity to address protectionism on a global basis.
9. Ministers noted the discussions on trade and environment since Doha. They welcomed the
opportunity to enhance the mutual supportiveness of trade and environment. Ministers reaffirmed that
the WTO work and negotiations on the relationship between trade and environment shall be in
accordance with the mandate agreed at Doha.
10. Ministers welcomed the accession of China and Chinese Taipei to the WTO and supported the
accession processes of Russia and Viet Nam.
11. Ministers appreciated the participation of the WTO and the World Bank at the meeting.
(a) Technical assistance and capacity building
12. Ministers agreed that technical assistance and capacity building are essential in ensuring the
full participation of developing economies in the world trading system and so that they reap the
promised tangible benefits from such particip ation. Ministers reaffirmed APEC’s commitment to
continue providing WTO-related technical assistance and capacity building, agreed that the provisionof this assistance should be demand-driven and encouraged developing economies to be pro-active in
identifying their needs in this area.
13. Ministers noted that APEC is leading efforts to ensure that developing economies are able to
participate fully in the DDA. In addition to the APEC Strategic Plan for WTO Capacity Building and
contributions to the WTO Global Trust Fund, APEC economies are providing significant bilateralassistance. APEC economies, including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States
provided more than US$70 million in trade-related technical assistance within APEC alone in 2001.
14. Ministers appreciated the WTO’s work on technical assistance and capacity building and
urged that the complete data base of WTO Members’ capacity building programmes be developed in
time for the July 2002 meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee.WT/L/472
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15. Ministers reviewed progress in implementing the APEC Strategic Plan for WTO Capacity
Building.  In 2001, a total of 12 WTO-capacity building projects, worth over US$1.2 million, were
funded through the APEC TILF fund.  Ministers instructed Senior Officials to give high priority to
additional WTO capacity building projects this year.
16. Ministers also stressed the need for the co ntinued involvement of other international
organizations such as the WTO Secretariat, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank in the
APEC Strategic Plan for WTO Capacity Building.  In this context, they welcomed the new capacity
building programme by the Asian Development Bank, in cooperation with Japan.
17. Ministers welcomed efforts led by Japan to better coordinate WTO capacity building in APEC
through the compilation of a series of economy matrices highlighting all assistance delivered by
APEC economies to other APEC economies. Ministers also welcomed efforts by Canada to make this
information available on-line via a user-friendly system that will allow donor economies to bettercoordinate their capacity building efforts and focus them in areas where needs are most pressing.
Every effort will be made to integrate this inform ation in the database that the WTO Secretariat is
currently developing.
(b) Confidence building
18. APEC has played a key role in strengthening th e multilateral trading system in the past.  The
challenge now is to continue to do so with actions that go beyond technical assistance and capacity
building.  APEC is well placed to build confidence on a broad range of issues in the DDA.
19. Ministers explored concrete steps in which APEC can contribute to a successful Fifth WTO
Ministerial Conf erence and completion of the DDA by 1 January 2005, and directed Senior Officials
to present recommendations on such steps by the Leaders’ meeting, including in areas such as
investment, competition, trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement and trade and
environment. In this context, Ministers welcomed the CTI Trade Policy Dialogue on Investment held
during SOM II and those to be organized in the future on Trade and Competition Policy and Trade
Facilitation.
Implementation of the Shanghai Accord
20. Ministers pledged robust implementation of all elements of the Shanghai Accord. They
reaffirmed the importance of the Shanghai Accord as a milestone in APEC that expands the vision of
APEC, provides for improved mechanisms for implementing APEC commitments, and identifies
important trade initiatives.
(a) Broadening the OAA
21. Ministers agreed that broadening the Osaka Action Agenda (OAA-APEC’s strategic roadmap) to
reflect fundamental changes in the global economy since Osaka, including developments in the new
economy and APEC work to strengthen the functioni ng of markets, would put APEC on a faster track
to achieving the Bogor goals of free and open trade and investment. Ministers encouraged SeniorOfficials to continue their work in this area, endorsed the interim report presented by Officials and
looked forward to reviewing a full report in October.
(b) Pathfinder initiatives
22. Ministers recognized the role that pathfinder initiatives could play in achieving the Bogor
goals of free and open trade and investment.WT/L/472
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23. They welcomed the work of APEC Fora to identify and develop pathfinder initiatives.  They
instructed officials to continue this work with a vi ew to presenting initiatives to the Ministerial and
Leaders’ Meetings in October this year.
(c) Trade policies for the new economy
24. Ministers emphasized the positive impact of the new economy on growth and development.
In this regard, Ministers welcomed Officials’ work to identify key trade policies on services
liberalization and tariff and intellectual property regimes that support the new economy, and reviewed
their report on the exchange on trade policy information in these areas. They urged all economies that
have not yet submitted information to do so as soon as possible.
25. Ministers recalled that the Shanghai Accord foresees the development of targets by the
Ministerial Meeting in October on the basis of the information exchanged, and instructed Officials tocomplete their information exchange, and develop targets that APEC members may achieve in these
areas. Ministers also stressed the need to develop and implement concrete capacity building
programmes to improve performance in these policy areas.
(d) Trade facilitation principles
26. Ministers recognized that some of APEC’s most important work and outcomes fall in the area
of trade and investment facilitation, including the APEC Trade Facilitation Principles.
27. Ministers congratulated Officials for developing a framework and schedule for an APEC
Trade Facilitation Action Plan and endorsed this Plan in its entirety. They recognized that this Action
Plan provides the basis for implementing the Leader s’ commitment in the Shanghai Accord to realize
a 5 per cent reduction in transaction costs in the region by the end of 2006.
28. Ministers emphasized that it is important for all economies and APEC Fora to begin taking
the necessary steps to implement the Action Plan, st arting with the development by the next Senior
Officials meeting of a menu of options of concrete trade facilitating actions and measures that can be
taken, and they noted that economies and Fora will commence actual implementation of selectedactions and measures starting next year. Ministers reaffirmed Leaders’ directive to implement the
Action Plan in close partnership with the private sector, including ABAC, to ensure that actions taken
truly cut costs for business.
29. Ministers encouraged participation by the private sector and officials responsible for customs,
standards, e-commerce and business mobility issues in an upcoming workshop on “Implementing the
APEC Trade Facilitation Principles” to be organized by Canada; Hong Kong, China and Thailand in
Bangkok later this year.
30. Ministers recognized the need for partnership with other international organizations in
APEC’s capacity building work on trade facilitation, and in this regard, welcomed the project
“Assessing the Economic Benefits of Trade Fa cilitation in APEC and Recommendations for a
Coordinated Capacity Building”, being developed by APEC and the World Bank which will provide
insights on the economic benefits of trade facilitation and clear recommendations for furtheringAPEC’s capacity building work. They also welcomed an Australian study that will promote APEC
best practice in the implementation of trade facilitating reforms.
31. Ministers welcomed Indonesia’s announcement that it would join the APEC Business Travel
Card scheme. Business travellers from 13 economies will now benefit from streamlined travel to entry
into and departure from participating member economies.WT/L/472
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32. Ministers welcomed the announcement by Australia and Singapore that they will become the
first economies to sign onto stages II and III of the APEC electrical MRA, and New Zealand’s
intention to apply shortly. They encouraged other APEC economies to follow suit. Also Ministers
welcomed the cross-border paperless trading initiative spearheaded by Chinese Taipei and co-
sponsored by Australia; Hong Kong, China; Japan and Singapore.
(e) Transparency principles
33. Ministers recalled Leaders’ directive last year to pursue implementation of APEC’s
Transparency Principles and reviewed the work in progress. Ministers instructed officials to reinforce
such work to strengthen business confidence in APEC and to deliver a set of transparency principles
for adoption by Leaders in October.
(f) Individual Action Plans (IAPs)
34. Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to take the actions outlined in their respective IAPs to
achieve the Bogor goals. They pledged to continue to improve IAPs and make them more
understandable to the public, recognizing that APEC ’s relevance to the public and, particularly, the
private sector is crucial for forward progress. Ministers endorsed the preliminary plans for IAPImprovement in 2002 submitted by respective member economies and encouraged economies to keep
up individual efforts to liberalize and facilitate trade and investment in order to achieve such goals.
35. Ministers welcomed progress in APEC to strengthen the IAP Peer Review Process, bearing in
mind that an implementation mechanism is credible only if coupled with monitoring and assessment
procedures. The involvement for the first time of outs ide expertise and the greater role to be played by
the private sector are expected to help ensure that reviews of IAPs are rigorous and meaningful.
Ministers commended Japan and Mexico for volunteering to be first in submitting their IAPs for
review under the new approach, and welcomed Australia; Canada; Hong Kong, China; Korea, New
Zealand and Thailand’s offer to submit theirs in 2003 and Chile, Peru and Singapore in 2004. They
also encouraged other member economies to submit their IAPs for peer review in the future. Ministersalso welcomed Senior Officials discussion for the report of peer review sessions being posted on the
APEC website for public viewing.
(g) Collective Action Plans (CAPs)
36. Ministers welcomed the progress report on the review and evaluation of CAPs
implementation and their effectiveness in achieving the Bogor goals.
37. The meeting reviewed progress in the CAPs process with a view to increasing its relevance
for the business sector and producing tangible deliverables on trade in the region, as agreed at MRT
last year.  Ministers noted the benefits that will arise from adoption of the revised Kyoto Convention
on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures and called upon those member
economies yet to do so, to adopt the Convention at the earliest opportunity.
38. Ministers also discussed ways to improve IPR enforcement, including Japan’s proposal to
establish an IPR Service Centre Network, and instruct ed Officials to continue their discussion in order
to report the proposal of appropriate mechanism by next Ministerial Meeting. Ministers called on
APEC members to encourage wide participation from business sector in the upcoming “APEC
Seminar on Venture Capital and Start-up Companies” to be held in Beijing in December this year.WT/L/472
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New Economy
(a) Implementation of e-APEC strategy for the new economy
39. Ministers acknowledged the role that ICT ha s in the return to economic growth. They
reaffirmed the importance of implementing appropri ate policies to foster the use of ICT and spread
the benefits of the new economy. Ministers confirmed APEC’s commitment to the implementation of
the e-APEC strategy, and welcomed the preliminary report by the e-APEC Task Force on its
implementation.
(b) Electronic commerce
40. Ministers acknowledged the role of ICT in reducing the costs of trade and investment. They
welcomed the progress on implementing APEC’s paperless trading targets as recorded in the
Paperless Trading IAPs submitted by Australia; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Mexico;
Chinese Taipei; Thailand; and Viet Nam. Ministers urged economies to take further steps to
implement APEC’s paperless trading goals.
41. Ministers welcomed China’s initiative to hold an APEC e-commerce Fair in Yantai, China, in
April 2003 and called on all APEC member economies to encourage wide participation in this event
by government officials and by the business and academic communities.
42. Ministers welcomed Chinese Taipei’s progress report on Phase II of the project Transforming
the Digital Divide into a Digital Opportunity, which will be implemented in 2002.
Economic Growth
(a) Strengthening the functioning of markets
43. Ministers reaffirmed that APEC’s efforts to strengthen the functioning of markets are
fundamental to building business and investor confidence and in ensuring that economies can take fulland sustained advantage of the opportunities and benefits offered by open markets. Ministers
welcomed the work that APEC has undertaken, including efforts in the Finance Ministers process, on
strengthening markets and economic and corporate governance.
44. In particular, Ministers welcomed Peru’s outcome report on the Second Workshop of the
APEC-OECD Cooperative Initiative on Regulatory Reform, and Japan’s progress reports on
Strengthening Economic Legal Infrastructure including the second SELI Symposium to be co-hosted
with Australia and Indonesia in July in Jakarta, and SME and New Business Support. Theyencouraged APEC economies to continue to make re al strides in implementing APEC’s Principles to
Enhance Competition and Regulatory Reform, as well as the range of other work in APEC on
strengthening economic legal infrastructure and improving corporate governance practices
(b) Small business
45. Ministers welcomed the release of the joint APEC study “Small Business and Trade in
APEC”. Ministers noted the key role played by small business, including micro-enterprises, in
promoting export growth in developed and developing economies, and in underpinning economic and
employment growth and development. On average in APEC, small businesses make up over 98 per
cent of all enterprises, account for 30 per cent of direct exports (estimated at US$930 billion), 10 percent of foreign direct investment by value and 60 per cent of private employment. Ministers noted the
importance for APEC of the key findings of the study, which found that progress in APEC on trade
facilitation and the removal of non-tariff barriers could result in small businesses increasing theirWT/L/472
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exports by US$1.18 trillion over the next five years. The study underscores the fact that APEC’s
agenda is one that is increasingly relevant and important to maximizing the potential of small business
in the region.
Counter-Terrorism and Trade Facilitation in APEC46. Terrorism, in all its forms, is a threat to econom ic stability in APEC, as well as a threat to
regional peace and security. As APEC Leaders noted in their Statement on Counter-Terrorism in
Shanghai last year, terrorism is a direct challenge to APEC’s vision of free, open and prosperous
economies. Acknowledging the threats posed by terr orism, APEC Ministers reaffirmed the need for
full implementation of the APEC 2001 Le aders’ Statement on Counter-Terrorism.
47. Ministers reviewed an interim report prepared by the APEC Secretariat on APEC measures
taken in response to the APEC 2001 Leaders’ Statement on Counter-Terrorism. Ministers noted thesubstantial progress already made in implementing specific Leaders’ commitments to suppress the
financing of terrorism, enhance air and maritime security, strengthen energy security, strengthen
critical sector protection and enhance security-related cooperation on customs and border security.
Ministers called on all relevant APEC working groups and sub-fora to intensify their efforts in
response to the Leaders’ Statement, including th rough policies and measures to increase economic
growth, as well as to ensure a stable and safe environment for trade, investment, travel and tourism.
48. Ministers noted the range of substantive domestic counter-terrorism measures implemented
by individual APEC economies, as detailed in the APEC Secretariat’s interim report, and the efforts
of relevant APEC economies to cooperate fully to counter-terrorism in other international fora,
particularly the United Nations and through implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1373and 1678.  Ministers agreed that APEC economies should continue their efforts in this regard.
49. The collective and individual efforts of APEC economies have limited the economic fall out
from the September 11 attacks and strengthened the resolve of Ministers to push ahead with APEC’s
ambitious trade and investment liberalization and facilitation agenda.  Ministers noted the importance
of achieving the twin goals of enhanced security against terrorist threats and continued facilitation ofthe movement of goods, capital and people, and instructed APEC Officials to identify priority
programmes to contribute to those goals for implementation by the meeting of the Leaders in October.
Calling for “mentor economies” to help others enhan ce their capabilities to fight terrorism, they also
instructed Officials to explore how to best provide capacity building assistance to developing
economies.
Outreach(a) Dialogue with ABAC
50. ABAC plays a unique role by providing advice on concrete initiatives that APEC should
adopt to improve the business environment in the Asia Pacific region.  Ministers welcomed the
presentation and discussion of ABAC’s pre-report on its recommendations to Leaders.  Ministerscommitted to consider them seriously and to strive to deliver concrete outcomes by the Leaders’
meeting in October. They emphasized the need to  continue strengthening the relationship between
government and private sector.  Ministers recognized that the report contains new recommendations
for timely cross-cutting issues such as global security, technology, finance, business facilitation,
SMEs, and the monitoring of APEC Individual Action Plans, as well as important recommendationsfrom previous years that APEC continues to address.WT/L/472
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51. Ministers noted the proposal made by ABAC to develop a flagship Trans-Pacific multimodal
transportation corridor, an initiative to build up a modern multimodal corridor between North
America and Asia.
52. Ministers instructed officials to review and where appropriate pursue the implementation of
recommendations contained in the pre-report of ABAC.
(b) Automotive and chemical dialogues
53. Ministers welcomed the reports on the Fourth Automotive Dialogue held on 16-19 April
2002, and on First Chemical Dialogue held on 22-23 May 2002.
54. Concerning the automotive dialogue Ministers welcomed the decision made by the United
States to embark on an informal peer review discussion process and commended Japan and Korea for
their offer to undergo a similar “peer discussion” process at the next Steering Committee meeting.Ministers encouraged other economies to do so too.
55. Ministers took note of the recommendation to use the revised Principles of Automotive
Technical Regulation Harmonization to guide their harmonization and regulatory programmes, and
also noted the letter sent by the Dialogue Chair to the WTO Director General, Mike Moore,
expressing the Dialogue’s interest in the new round and its possible contributions to it.
56. Ministers thanked Australia for its excellent contribution as the Automotive Dialogue’s Chair
and welcomed Indonesia as the incoming Chair.
57. Ministers endorsed the recommendation of the First Chemical Dialogue that, following its
adoption by the United Nations this year, as many APEC economies as possible implement on a
voluntary basis, the Global Harm onized System on hazard classification and labelling of chemicals
and safety data sheets by 2006, and encouraged officials to work in that direction, including through
capacity building.
(c) Dialogue on globalization and shared prosperity
58. Ministers welcomed the successful outcomes of the APEC Dialogue on Globalization and
Shared Prosperity, held on 26 May 2002 in Merida.  They acknowledged the importance of good
domestic economic reform policies, sound institutions and skills development in promoting economic
growth.  They noted the Dialogue’s focus on the importance of the social dimension of globalization,
and on the need for appropriate measures to help people adjust to new circumstances and acquire the
learning and skills needed to thrive in the new economy.  Ministers also acknowledged the need for
social safety nets that cushion the impact on workers displaced by economic change and that facilitate
resumption of employment and protection of affected families.  They called for communicationstrategies to disseminate and make understandable to all stakeholders the benefits and challenges.
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