ABAC II Overview
|
The
second APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) meeting of 2010 was held from May
18 - 21 in Chinese Taipei. Led by 2010
Chair Mr. Gempachiro Aihara of Japan, the meeting produced three
main outcomes: -
Approval of the final version of the ABAC Letter
to Trade Ministers;
- Approval of the final version of the ABAC Letter
to Energy Ministers, and;
-
Development of recommendations based on ABAC's
assessment of progress toward the Bogor
Goals.
U.S. ABAC member Deb Henretta
(P&G) and alternate member Chris LaFleur (JP Morgan Chase) represented the United States private sector. Alex
Parle, Lynn Turk and Rob Fiddick
attended on behalf of the National
Center. In addition to
the regular agenda, the United States ABAC members held their regular meeting
with members from Japan and Singapore to
discuss coordination of themes and objectives over the 2009 - 2011 period.
|
Knowledge Based Growth Symposium
|
As part of the ABAC Knowledge-Based Growth (KBG)
Initiative, a symposium to discuss KBG issues was held in the lead up to the
ABAC Meeting in Taipei.
The objective of the symposium was to generate suggestions for APEC's work to
promote KBG, one of the growth pillars in Japan's 2010 work plan for APEC. The symposium was broken down into four
themes: - Development of Knowledge-Based Growth;
- Business Applications of KBG Key
Elements;
- Latest ICT Development and KBG, and;
- Suggestions for APEC on KBG.
Throughout
the symposium, key themes included: capacity building, strong public -
private
sector collaboration, regional R&D collaboration, and cross border
harmonization of standards for ICT.
Cher Wang, ABAC Member for Chinese Taipei, noted the four
main criteria in promoting KBG included the development of human resources, a
supportive business environment, a strong legal environment, and a wider
adoption of communication technologies. ABAC Chair Gempachiro Aihara, of Mitsui and Co., added that KBG constitutes
an integral pillar of the APEC 2010 themes, along with balanced,
inclusive, and sustainable growth.
Alvin Lee, of NCAPEC board member TimeWarner, also spoke at
the event on the topic of business applications of KBG. He reasoned that easily accessible
high quality communication is necessary for KGB economies to be
sustainable. He highlighted robust IPR, regional cooperation,
capacity building, efficiency between agencies, and consumer education/awareness
as key regulatory issues. In discussing the future benefits of KBG, he noted that with appropriate safeguards in
place to protect content, companies would be more wiling to promote a range of
investments. He also indicated that
a thriving KBG economy would allow for
the exchange of content technology and capital to connect domestic
industries. Finally, he highlighted the
Digital Prosperity Checklist as a key mechanism for harmonizing standards
across the region.
|
ABAC Letter to MRT - Synopsis
|
One of the key
deliverables for ABAC II was the ABAC Letter to APEC Ministers Responsible for
Trade (MRT), which will be presented to Ministers at their meeting on 5-6 June
in Sapporo, Japan. The final draft approved by ABAC at this
meeting notes that the global economy has recovered faster than expected, but
that there are significant risks that present a challenge to achieving
sustainable growth. The letter also
urges economies to remain vigilant in their commitment to resist protectionism,
and conclude the Doha Round. The letter addresses
two major points: next steps beyond the Bogor Goals, and the Free Trade Area of
the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). Based on its own
assessment of progress toward the Bogor Goals, ABAC's letter includes the
following recommendations: Trade Ministers should recommit to achieving free and
open trade within the APEC region by 2020, and new proposed visions for
the future of the region should reflect the modern Asia Pacific regional
supply chain and value chains. - Leaders should agree on the
FTAAP as a vehicle for free and open trade and investment within the Asia
Pacific. Ministers should provide
greater detail on the modalities and processes towards an FTAAP.
- Leaders should recognize the
importance of existing and progressing regional trade arrangements such as
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3, ASEAN+6 and CEPEA as
potential pathways to delivering an FTAAP.
- Emphasize continued
cooperation between the public and private sector as well as SOM and ABAC
processes so as to capitalize on each others expertise in identifying
practical initiatives and solutions.
- As part of achieving the Bogor Goals or a new vision,
Leaders should direct the APEC Secretariat to develop an annual set of
'Regional Integration Metrics' to monitor each economy's progress towards
greater regional economic integration and inclusive growth.
ABAC also provided
updates and recommendations on a series of issues related to the goal of free
and open trade and investment in the region.
These recommendations include: Adopting prudent measures for economic recovery; Facilitating trade flows and ensuring trade security; Facilitating investment flows; Promoting infrastructure public - private
partnerships; Enhancing intellectual property rights cooperation; Ensuring food security; Tackling climate change; Addressing talent shortages; Accelerating SME and micro-enterprise capacity
building efforts; Increasing transparency and fighting corruption; Enhancing competition policy.
Full text of the letter can be read here. |
Industry Issues
|
ABAC USA
made progress in advancing the US
private sector priorities that were raised at the National Center's
Annual Executive Roundtable last January. Below is a brief update on outcomes
from the ABAC II meeting. For more information on any of these topics please
contact Alex Parle (aparle@ncapec.org)
IPR - ABAC
endorsed a recommendation that APEC take on a patent acquisition cooperation
initiative as a means of broadening the principles for collaboration under the
IP5 arrangement between patent offices in the E.U., China,
Japan, Korea and the United States.
Competition Policy - ABAC is developing recommendations that
will encourage APEC economies to adopt and implement best practices in the
enforcement of competition policy regimes in the region. Specifically, ABAC USA has
proposed endorsement of the International Chamber of Commerce's Recommended
Framework for best practices in competition law enforcement proceedings.
Further discussion is scheduled for ABAC III in August.
Energy Security - NCAPEC secured partial funding from ABAC
to commission an update to the Strategic
Framework for Energy Security in APEC report that was published in late
2008. The National
Center's Energy Policy
Support Group will lead the effort to identify the appropriate experts to
prepare the updated report. ABAC also sent a letter to APEC Energy Ministers in
advance of a June 19-20 meeting of APEC Energy Ministers in Fukui, Japan.
The text of the letter is available here.
The current Strategic Framework for Energy Security in APEC publication can be viewed here.
Investment - ABAC is undertaking a review of the APEC
Non-binding Investment Principles which were adopted in 1994. In addition to
looking at how the Principles can be updated to meet the evolving nature of
business models, ABAC will also recommend steps to advance reforms such as
capacity building programs to bring investment regimes in-line with the
Principles,
Trade Facilitation - ABAC collected and submitted input on
specific actions APEC should implement under the Supply Chain Connectivity
Framework, announced at the Singapore Leaders' Meeting last November. All of
the issues identified in ABAC's Customs Work plan, which was developed by
NCAPEC members last year, has been included in ABAC's input. NCAPEC will also
be giving a presentation in Sapporo, Japan this month on the US private sector-led effort to
create a tariff and rules of origin database for APEC economies.
Digital Economy and Trade - ABAC endorsed US private sector
recommendations to APEC on issues related to the digital economy that should be
covered in modern free trade agreements. These issues include duties for
ICT-related products and e-commerce, IT services, technical barriers to trade, IPR and telecommunications. This is part of a
larger ABAC effort to identify business requirements for 21st
century trade agreements.
Financial Services - In addition to a broad range of macro
issues, ABAC members discussed recommendations on improving SME access to
financing and a fund passporting arrangement for Asia.
These recommendations and related actions will be further developed at ABAC
III.
Medical Device Initiative - ABAC members endorsed an
initiative to develop a set of common voluntary APEC principles for ethical
business practices among medical device makers in the region. The initiative
would be a pilot program that could be expanded to SMEs in other industries in
the future.
Food Security - ABAC members agreed to bolster efforts to
publicize the Strategic Framework on Food
Security that NCAPEC produced with the assistance of ABAC. Members also
discussed the possibility of holding an event on food security on the margins
of ABAC III with outside stakeholders to help develop a work program that ABAC
could propose at the Food Security Ministerial scheduled for later this year.
NCAPEC will be participating in a discussion on food security with APEC Senior
Officials in Sapporo
this month.
Anti-Corruption - ABAC endorsed the inclusion of
recommendations related to the implementation of APEC's commitments on
anti-corruption efforts. Specifically, ABAC has encouraged APEC to establish a
self-reporting mechanism, similar to that developed for the G8 countries as a
means of increasing accountability with regard to the commitments in the APEC Transparency Standards, Santiago Commitment to
Fight Corruption and Ensure Transparency and APEC Course of Action on Fighting Corruption and Ensuring Transparency.
If you would like additional details on any of the industry issues, please contact the National Center.
|
| About the National Center for APEC | | The U.S. National Center for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (NCAPEC) is the only U.S. business association focused exclusively on facilitating American private sector input to the APEC process. NCAPEC serves as the official coordinator of business activities for the 2011 APEC Meetings. National Center membership is limited to U.S. corporations. The National Center also functions as a conduit for U.S. businesses into APEC by serving as the Secretariat for the three U.S. executives who are appointed members of the APEC Business Advisory Council.
|
|
