WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/726 
26 June 2008 
 (08-3051) 
 Original:   English 
  
 
MEETING OF APEC MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRADE 
 
Arequipa, Peru
 
31 May - 1 June 2008  
 
Communication from Peru 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 24 June 2008,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Peru. 
 
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MEETING OF APEC MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRADE 
 
Arequipa, Peru 
31 May -1 June 2008 
 
Statement of the Chair 
 
 
We, APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT),  met on 31 May - 1 June in Arequipa, Peru under 
the chairmanship of H.E. Ms. Mercedes Araoz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru.  We welcomed the participation in the meeting of the Director General of the World Trade 
Organisation (WTO), the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the APEC Secretariat. 
 
Our discussions for advancing APEC's work this ye ar were guided by the APEC 2008 theme: "A New 
Commitment to the Development of the Asia-Pac ific". We took this opportunity to encourage 
initiatives that would make a substantial contribut ion to advancing APEC's goals of trade and 
investment liberalisation and facilitation in the regi on, as well as strengthening the focus on the social 
dimension of the APEC agenda. 
 We welcomed the report of the Chair of the APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) on the progress of APEC work and encouraged officials to continue their efforts in order to bring forward meaningful 
deliverables by the time we meet again for the APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in November. 
 
Continuing support for the multilateral trading system 
 
We exchanged our views on supporting the multilatera l trading system, for which we highly valued 
the report and comments of WTO Director General, Mr. Pascal Lamy, on the current situation of the 
Doha Development Agenda (DDA). 
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  We stressed the crucial importance of the WTO rule s-based multilateral trading system and agreed on 
the urgency of bringing the DDA negotiations to a prompt and successful conclusion this year. We 
reaffirmed our high level of ambition in agricultu re, non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and all 
other areas of negotiations, in order to get a bala nced and meaningful out come which adequately 
addresses the developmental aspect of this Round. We  issued a separate statement on the DDA, noting 
it had entered a new and crucial phase with the rel ease of revised negotiating texts on agriculture and 
non-agricultural market access, and other Chair's re ports on services and rules. We called for all WTO 
members to engage constructively and work with  a sense of urgency to reach an ambitious and 
successful conclusion of the Round.  
We are pleased at the progress made on the Russian Federation's accession to the WTO and 
reaffirmed our strong support for a rapid conclusion to the negotiations. 
 
Promoting Regional Economic Integration 
 We emphasised the importance of APEC's work to  strengthen economic integration in the Asia 
Pacific region. In this regard, we reaffirmed our commitment to the Bogor Goals as a key organising 
principle and driving force for APEC, and discussed  various ways to achieve APEC's objective of 
promoting economic growth and prosperity throug h free and open trade and investment, and increased 
regional economic integration (REI), including the l ong-term prospect of a Free Trade Area of the 
Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). 
 
The 2007 Leaders Report on Strengthening Regi onal Economic Integration constitutes a 
comprehensive and ambitious work plan for APEC's  agenda. We are committed to implementing the 
agreed actions as a way to achieve the Bogor Goal s by all APEC economies. We welcomed the report 
of the Chair of the APEC Senior Official's Mee ting on the Regional Economic Integration Priorities 
for 2008 and endorsed the list of deliverables for 2008 as key to advancing the REI agenda in a 
systematic manner under particular themes.  We reiterated the importance of further analys ing the prospect of an FTAAP, including its 
implications, and instructed officials to continue th e intensive work program being carried out in this 
regard. We welcomed the report from the SOM Policy Dialogue on the Study on Identifying 
Convergences and Divergences in APEC's RTAs/FTAs. This analytical study is a helpful tool for 
promoting better understanding of the similarities and differences among the provisions within the 
existing RTAs/FTAs in the region, enabling APEC economies to identify concrete ways to further 
examine the concept of an FTAAP.  
We instructed officials to complete the deliv erables for 2008 and develop the progress report 
requested by Leaders in 2007, by November's A PEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM). Finally, we urged 
officials to identify proposals for concrete future steps that should be taken to achieve meaningful 
progress in the REI agenda in 2009 and beyond.  
Furthering Trade and Investment Liberalisation and Facilitation (TILF) 
 
We welcomed APEC's work plan on trade and i nvestment liberalisation and facilitation, which 
contributes to the development of the Asia-Pacific region.  We acknowledged the progress made in the following areas: 
 
 - Regional Trade Agreements/Free Trade Agreements (RTAs/FTAs)  We agreed that high-quality and comprehensive RTAs/FTAs are key to strengthening regional 
economic integration and achieving APEC's Bogor Goals by increasing trade and investment  WT/L/726 
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  liberalisation in the region, while serving as build ing blocks for the further development of the 
multilateral trading system.  We reaffirmed that APEC should maintain an ac tive role in promoting high quality RTAs/FTAs. A 
key aspect of this effort is the development of  model measures for RTA/FTA chapters as capacity-
building tools and non-binding references to assist APEC economies in achieving such 
comprehensive and high-quality agreements, and to  promote greater consistency and coherence 
among the RTAs/FTAs within the region. We e ndorsed model measures for the chapters on 
Competition Policy, Environment and Temporary En try for Business Persons , and instructed our 
officials to accelerate efforts to complete the wo rk on all remaining model measures in time for the 
AMM in November. 
 We welcomed the work on addressing the concerns  of the business community regarding possible 
complexities caused by the proliferation of RTAs /FTAs in the region and the possibility of trade 
diversion, particularly in the area of preferential ru les of origin. We encouraged officials to continue 
the interaction with the private sector and other stakeholders to ensure that APEC's work on 
RTAs/FTAs is responsive and relevant to their interests.   - Trade Facilitation  We reaffirmed our commitment to APEC's work  on Trade Facilitation, recognising its growing 
importance for our business community, particular ly in the key areas of customs procedures, 
standards and conformance, e-comme rce and mobility of business people. 
 We welcomed the progress made on the implemen tation of the second Trade Facilitation Action Plan 
(TFAP II), with the objective of reducing trade tran saction costs by an additional 5 per cent by 2010. 
In this regard, we endorsed the Key Performance  Indicators (KPIs) and the reporting methodologies 
developed by sub-fora to measure progress of collec tive actions/pathfinders for the implementation of 
TFAP II and encouraged to further enha ncement to the reporting methodologies. 
 We also welcomed the effort to foster closer  relationships between APEC, the business community 
and other stakeholders, including the APEC Specia list Regional Bodies with responsibility for trade 
facilitation related issues, in order to develop a range of activities with emphasis on communication 
and outreach, and capacity-building.   - Intellectual Property Rights  
We acknowledged IPR as a tool for technological, econom ic and social development. In this regard, 
we acknowledged the importance of comprehensive a nd balanced intellectual property systems, as 
well as an environment that encourages creation and innovation and provides the tools for successful 
management and exploitation of IPR. We also recognised the importance of enhancing capacity 
building and encouraged further implementation of the IPR Guidelines on Capacity Building. 
 
We reaffirmed our commitment to continue effort s to strengthen the protection and enforcement of 
IPR in the region. We encouraged work on satellite and cable signal theft in the region as outlined in 
the 2007 AMM Statement, and welcomed the continue d work on enhancing education on IPR in order 
to assist SMEs in better protecting their rights, an d welcomed work to meet the objectives of the 
APEC Cooperation Initiative on Pa tent Acquisition Procedures. 
 
We recognised the importance of taking further st eps to stop the proliferation of counterfeit and 
pirated goods through internationa l cooperation and information sharing among IPR agencies, right-
owners, enforcement authorities, and the private se ctor. In this regard, we called on economies to 
continue implementing the APEC Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative. We also welcomed the WT/L/726 
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  first Intellectual Property Experts Group (IPEG) - Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) 
joint session and encouraged economies to intensify their own efforts, increase cooperation, and 
expand training and capacity building programs in this area.  We reaffirmed the importance of ongoing internati onal discussions, especially in the WTO, including 
the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, 
regarding genetic resources, and the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore. We will 
continue to promote work on awareness raising and advancing shared objectives regarding these 
issues.  
 - Digital Economy 
 We welcomed APEC's work on trade and the digital economy, and recognised the on-going efforts in APEC to ensure that economies benefit from the di gital economy. In this regard, we instructed 
officials to further efforts to assist economies in promoting the use and development of information 
and communication technologies (ICTs) through the completion of a policy/regulatory checklist to 
advance digital prosperity in APEC economies. We encouraged further partic ipation in the Pathfinder 
on Technology Choice Principles, as well as capacity building to bridge the digital divide in the region.  We reaffirmed the importance of the free flow of  information across the Asia-Pacific region. In 
furtherance of this goal, we welcome the Elect ronic Commerce Steering Group's (ECSG) continued 
work on the Data Privacy Pathfinder, which pr omotes responsible and accountable cross-border 
information flows and effective privacy protectio n without creating unnecessary barriers to such 
flows; and encourage economies to join this initiative.  
We reaffirmed the importance of the role that  the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) has 
played in promoting trade, investment, and econom ic growth in APEC ec onomies over the last ten 
years. We expressed concern about products covere d by the ITA that may no longer be receiving duty 
free treatment because of their technological innova tions. We expressed further concerns that these 
recent developments will undermine the ITA, and agreed  to work together to ensure that the integrity 
of the ITA is maintained. 
 
 - Investment  We reaffirmed the central role of investment liberalisation and facilitation in fostering economic 
growth in the region, and their im portant contribution to the improveme nt of the investment climate in 
our economies; thereby, ensuring sustainable development, accelerating regional economic 
integration, and reducing barriers to investment.  We welcomed the continued work by officials on a st udy of bilateral investment agreements and core 
investment-related elements of existing FTAs in the re gion, which is being undertaken with a view to 
developing core principles for investment agreements. 
 
We endorsed the Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP) for 2008-2010 which constitutes a significant achievement for APEC this year. It ai ms to strengthen regional economic integration, 
competitiveness, and sustainable economic growth; and therefore, it will contribute to expanding prosperity and employment opportunities in the Asia  Pacific region and to achieving the Bogor Goals. 
 
We instructed officials to continue the work on IFAP by developing a work program on implementation of the actions agreed in the IFAP, including the development of methodologies for reporting progress.   WT/L/726 
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  We reaffirmed the importance of implementing cap acity building and conducti ng public-private sector 
dialogues under IFAP in order to improve the investment environment of APEC economies. 
  - Environmental Goods and Services  
Recalling our earlier direction to APEC officials to  "continue their work on environmental goods and 
services", we welcomed the progress made in APEC in this area. We now instruct officials to 
elaborate a work program to advance APEC work on environmental goods and services.  These efforts would contribute to climate change and international trade policies reinforcing each 
other, including in the WTO. 
  - Individual Action Plans (IAPs)  As Ministers Responsible for Trade, we recognise d the important role of Individual Action Plans 
(IAPs) and the IAP Peer Review process for econom ies to learn from the experiences of one another 
and track their progress towards the Bogor Goals. We  welcomed the successful conclusion of the IAP 
Peer Reviews of Canada, Peru and the United States in March, and look forward to the conclusion of 
the IAP Peer Reviews of Chile, Mexico and Singapore later this year.  We emphasised the importance of providing complete  and transparent information on the economies' 
trade and investment regimes in order to make AP EC's work as accountable as possible in monitoring 
the progress of member economies towards trade a nd investment liberalisation and facilitation. 
 
Improving the Business Environment and Structural Reform 
 We re-emphasised the importance of structural refo rm in promoting sustainable growth in the region 
and increasing Asia-Pacific prosperity by improving market efficiency. We noted that reducing behind-the-border barriers by implementing structur al reforms strongly complements APEC's work on 
trade and investment liberalisation and facilitati on. In this sense, we welcomed the Economic 
Committee's efforts to intensify the on-going work on th e five priority areas of the Leaders' Agenda to 
Implement Structural Reform (LAISR) towards 2010. 
 
We noted APEC's important role in promoting and supporting structural reform in member 
economies, through information and experience shari ng, targeted research and analysis and capacity 
building activities.  
We recognised the importance of providing high le vel support to maintain the momentum for the 
structural reform agenda, and welcomed the successful SOM Policy Dialogue. We reviewed preparations for the Ministerial Meeting on Structur al Reform to be held in Melbourne, Australia 
3-5 August 2008, which will provide further impetus to APEC's structural reform agenda, including 
through addressing the political challenges of succes sfully implementing structural economic reform, 
a focus on how regulatory reform policy can drive st ructural reform, and identification of future 
structural reform priorities for APEC's work and capacity building. 
 We welcomed the revised work plan to acceler ate activities conducted under the Private Sector 
Development Agenda, which aim to further improve  the business environment in the region through, 
inter alia, enhanced regulatory practices, transparen cy, and access to financing. We agreed that APEC 
should continue its efforts to create an enabling en vironment for small and medium-sized enterprises, 
as well as to enhance their competitiveness. 
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  Economic and Technical Cooperation (ECOTECH): Building capacity and sharing technical expertise 
and assistance 
 
Strengthening regional economic in tegration aids economic developm ent through the creation of a 
better business environment and increased levels of trade and investment. We strongly supported the 
development of a more focused and long-te rm approach to APEC's capacity-building  efforts. We 
instructed officials to develop a concrete proposal to  apply this new approach in order to deliver more 
meaningful and effective results that directly benefit our communities.  We welcomed work underway to examine possib ilities for twinning arra ngements between APEC 
economies to help developing economies secure acc ess to and increase their public sector technical 
expertise. We were confident that the program  will help establish and reinforce inter-agency 
relationships within APEC. We al so look forward to strengthening APEC's engagement with other 
multilateral organisations and ABAC to make effectiv e and appropriate use of available expertise and 
resources for the long-term benefit of economies in the region.  Food Price Escalation 
 
We discussed the crisis caused by recent dramatic  increases in prices of many food products which 
are undermining our fight against poverty and exacerbating economic and social problems in the region. 
 
The price increases of many important commoditie s, including wheat, rice and maize are having a 
deeply damaging effect especially on the poorest families in our region. We agreed that APEC 
economies can play an important role in the glob al response to this cris is by maintaining our 
commitment to open markets and trade and investment liberalisation. 
 
The current food price escalation has increased the urgency to achieve substantial improvements in 
market access and reductions in market-distorting measures in globa l agricultural trade. We agreed 
that a rapid completion of the WTO Doha Round, w ith an ambitious and balanced outcome, will be 
one of the important factors in overcomi ng this serious international situation. 
 
Export restrictions on food products  may prolong and deepen the severity of the crisis by putting 
further pressure on global food prices and discouraging the agricultural investment needed now to increase future production.  We agreed that increasing the productivity of agri culture worldwide is critic al to global welfare, 
particularly of developing economies, and to ensuri ng long-term and adequate world food supplies. In 
this regard, we reaffirmed the importance of su fficient levels of investment in agricultural 
technologies, as well as economic and technical coopera tion to increase agricultural productivity. We 
also agreed on the importance of increased support to food aid programs and to ensure that they are 
managed in a way that does not distort markets.  
The FAO High-Level Conference provides an opportuni ty for serious discussions on this issue in 
order to develop a deeper understanding of the causes, effects and possible solutions. 
 We welcomed ABAC's proposal to review the APEC  Food System and update it in the light of the 
food challenges we now face.   WT/L/726 
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  Addressing human security challenges and ensuring  the sustainability of business facilitation and 
trade liberalisation 
 
We affirmed human security is essential to the sust ainable economic growth and prosperity of APEC 
economies. 
 
We understand the risks posed by terrorist activity  and natural disasters on APEC economies and the 
threat to our shared prosperity. We welcomed work on trade recovery, food defense, and on 
combating terrorist financing, specifically on the misuse of non-profit organisations by terrorists, bulk cash smuggling and illicit cash couriers. We also re cognised the need to enhance security, through 
cybersecurity, transportation security, food safety, energy security, enhancement of public-private 
partnerships to fight terrorism, and other cruc ial issues of collaboration among APEC economies. 
 We expressed our deepest sympathies to the People' s Republic of China for the terrible damage and 
loss of life caused by the recent earthquake in Sichua n Province. APEC continues to play an important 
role in regional efforts to prepare for and respond to such natural disasters. In this regard, we were 
pleased at APEC's efforts to develop and implemen t a program of capacity-building projects designed 
to strengthen community resilience to natural disasters and other emergencies and encouraged 
ongoing engagement with the private sector to help mitigate disruption to business. We looked forward to the outcomes from the Emergency Manage ment CEO Seminar to be held in Peru in 
August. 
 
We welcomed initiatives to strengthen food and co nsumer product safety standards and practices in 
the region through enhanced coordination and progra ms to ensure the health and safety of our 
populations, without creating unnecessary impediments to trade. In particular, we noted the importance of the new multi-year capacity building projects on developing technical infrastructure 
and increasing food and product safety. We encourag ed continued work to strengthen product safety 
and to facilitate trade, including through sector-spe cific product safety efforts, as well as work in 
promoting good regulatory practices.  We reiterated our continuing support for the Secure Trade in the APEC Region (STAR) Initiative. We 
looked forward to a successful Sixth STAR Conference to be held in Lima in August this year. 
STAR VI will reinforce APEC's secure trade agenda by working in partnership with the private sector 
to identify ways of mitigating security risks, without compromising the flow of trade. 
 
Promoting Transparency and Fighting Corruption 
 We were pleased that APEC continues to make a valuable contribution to fighting corruption and 
ensuring transparency in the region. We supported the implementation by all economies of the APEC 
Code of Conduct for Business, the Code of Conduct Principles for Public Officials and complementary Anti-Corruption Principles for the Priv ate and Public Sectors, within the fundamental 
principles of each economy's legal system. We also  supported the implementation of APEC actions 
for Fighting Corruption through Improved Internati onal Legal Cooperation whic h reaffirms our strong 
commitment to prosecute acts of corruption and to  strengthening cooperation on extradition, mutual 
legal assistance and the recovery and return of proceeds of corruption.  We agreed to further strengthen international c ooperation to combat money-laundering and to raise 
awareness of illicit finance challenges posed to ou r economies by transnational organised crime and 
corrupt entities. We reiterated our strong suppor t for those member economies yet to ratify and 
implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption to do so. 
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  Gender 
 
We welcomed the reports from the Gender Focal  Point Network (GFPN) and Women Leaders' 
Network (WLN), and recognised the importance of integrating gender considerations into the 
development of trade policy, and the need to  strengthen APEC's capacity in this regard. 
 
We welcomed initiatives for the promotion of women exporters in the APEC region, particularly in 
developing economies, and reinforced the importa nce of continued cooperation between APEC and 
the business community to ensure that women entrepre neurs are able to both contribute to and benefit 
from free trade in the Asia-Pacific region. 
 
Developing Corporate Social Res ponsibility in the Asia-Pacific 
 
We discussed the role that APEC can play in deve loping Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the 
Asia-Pacific. CSR has been developing at different sp eeds and in different directions within all APEC 
economies over recent years with each approach reflec ting local factors, distinct business cultures and 
economic structures. It is an issue that comple ments and supports APEC's  agenda of promoting 
economic development and improving the business environment in the region. Robust companies' 
CSR policies are increasingly important for their su ccessful international trade and investment. The 
integration of economic, social and environmental considerations into everyday business practice is 
essential for promoting sustainable development in the region. 
 
CSR is most effective when it is led by the privat e sector and takes into account different development 
approaches for different levels of developmen t. Many member economies, companies, and 
international organisations have developed effective CSR practices and guidelines that could serve as 
useful models for other companies in our region.  We agreed that APEC, especially through ABAC, 
could play a promoting and facilitating role in CSR awareness and best practices in both the public 
and private sectors. We encouraged officials to work closely with ABAC to develop an APEC CSR 
agenda for consideration by APEC Leaders in 2008. 
 
Interaction with the Business Community  
 - Dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) 
 We reiterated the valuable role  of ABAC in providing advice on how to improve the business 
environment in the Asia-Pacific region. We emph asised the need to continue strengthening the 
linkages between public and private sectors. 
 
We welcomed the closer engagement achieved wi th ABAC to progress the work across the APEC 
agenda, including on support for the Doha negotia tions, regional economic in tegration and trade and 
investment liberalisation and facilitation.  We welcomed ABAC's Letter to Ministers Responsib le for Trade, which identifies some of the key 
business challenges which need to be addressed, and ag reed to take these into account in our future 
work. We committed ourselves to take ABAC's r ecommendations into account, where appropriate, as 
we pursue an ambitious age nda and concrete outcomes. 
  - Industry Dialogues 
 
We welcomed the work done by the industry dialo gues to raise awareness of initiatives outside APEC 
that may affect trade and competitivene ss of the industries within the region. 
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  We recognised the importance of the cooperative work  undertaken by the public and private sectors in 
the industry dialogues, as an effort to enhance tr ade facilitation, transparency and the reduction of 
barriers to trade and investment.  We welcomed the progress in the implementation of the Life Sciences Strategic Plan, including the 
development of the study on the benefits of inv estment in health innovati ons and checklists on 
enablers of investment in this important area, a nd the broad range of the capacity building projects, 
including anti-counterfeiting, regulatory harmoni sation and the promotion of Public Private 
Partnerships in life sciences innovation.  
We also emphasised our concerns over the potentia l negative impact of the EU's Chemical Policy 
(REACH) and reiterated our position that these me asures should not constitute unnecessary obstacles 
to trade in chemicals and downstream products. We endorsed the Report on Best Practices for Chemical Regulations and the report of the Gl obally Harmonized System (GHS) Virtual Group as 
APEC contributions to Strategic Approach to In ternational Chemicals Management (SAICM), and 
welcomed the initiation in the Chemical Dialogue of the Chemical Regulators Forum. 
 
APEC Reform: Keeping APEC at the forefront of regional economic integration  
We remain committed to ensuring that APEC is the pre-eminent forum for economic cooperation and 
integration in the Asia-Pacific. We are therefore pleased that the process to establish a Policy Support 
Unit attached to the APEC Secretariat is now u nderway. The unit will provide analytical capacity, 
policy support and assist in guiding related capac ity building for APEC's trade, investment and 
economic reform agenda and re lated ECOTECH activities. We also noted the work currently 
underway to develop proposed c onditions, responsibilities and account ability mechanisms related to 
the appointment of an APEC Executive Director for a fixed-term. 
 
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