Issued by the APEC Secretariat
Beijing, China, 10 Dec 2013 APEC senior officials have been meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Beijing to determine the priorities for APEC China
2014, just after the World Trade Organization found consensus this weekend in Indonesia and while Trans Pacific
Partnership negotiators are seeking an agreement in Singapore.
Officials of APEC, a region that accounts for more almost half of world trade, are studying new opportunities and
challenges, including new areas of growth and economic reform for the region. Importantly, they will look at the role
APEC will play within the context of the newly agreed Bali Package and noodle bowl of regional trade agreements.
Just as the delivery of the Bali Package which encompasses much of what APEC Leaders envisioned - an historic agreement
on trade facilitation, some elements of agriculture, and development, including issues of interest to least developed
economies provides momentum to multilateral trading system, Senior Officials are discussing the progress negotiators are
making to seek a conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and the rise of plurilateral agreements.
“Just a few months ago in Bali, every leader from APEC said they wanted the DDA to succeed,” said Dr Bollard on the
sidelines of the World Trade Organization’s 9th Ministerial Conference in Bali last week.
At the APEC Meeting in Bali two months ago, Leaders acknowledged in a statement the urgency to achieve successful outcomes at the WTO’s 9th Ministerial Conference. They also reaffirmed their
commitment to build on the Bali package to achieve the full conclusion of the DDA and to continue the negotiations to
address the remaining DDA issues post-Bali.
“So, now we’re looking at not just bilaterals, not just regionals, but mega-regionals and how well designed they are,”
Dr Bollard explained last week. “We will be spending a good amount of time next year thinking about how these things
might come together rather than how they might diverge.”
“Based on the developments last week in Bali, a new kind of approach may be required to enhance the ultimate chances of
success,” said Dr Bollard.
“To bring benefits to the private sector, we hope the WTO may consider expanding on sectoral agreements like those
addressing information technology and services like APEC has done.”
In their statement, APEC Leaders called for a swift conclusion to expand the WTO Information Technology Agreement and to explore
opportunities in the WTO to build on the APEC commitment to reduce tariffs on the APEC List of Environmental Goods.
China’s Foreign Minister, H.E. Wang Yi, is expected to address the Closing Session of the Informal Senior Officials’
Meeting on the afternoon of Tuesday, 10 December 2013.
ENDS