WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/520
24 June 2003
(03-3363)
Original:  English
MEETING OF APEC MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRADE
Khon Kaen, Thailand
2-3 June 2003
Communication from Thailand
The following communication, dated 13 June, has been received by the Director-General
from the Permanent Mission of Thailand, with the request that it be circulated to Members.
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Under instructions of my authorities, I have the honour to send you herewith the Statement of
the Chair of the meeting of the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade held in Khon Kaen, Thailandon 2-3 June 2003.
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Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade
Khon Kaen, Thailand, 2-3 June 2003
Statement of the Chair
APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade, representing economies accounting for 47 percent of
world trade and over 60 percent of global GDP, met in Khon Kaen, Thailand on 2 - 3 June 2003.
Amidst economic uncertainty, they committed to promote economic growth, create jobs and raise
living standards to deliver APEC’s ultimate goal of equitable and shared prosperity. They also
resolved to accelerate progress to achieve the Bogor goals of free and open trade and investment in
the Asia-Pacific region. They stressed the importance of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) andthe need for a successful WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancún.
In advancing APEC’s work this year, Ministers focussed their discussions around the main
theme that Thailand, as Chair, has established for APEC 2003 "A World of Differences: Partnership
for the Future". Recognizing the diversity and di fferent levels of development within the APEC
community, Ministers called for greater cooperation and partnership so that all members can benefit
from faster growth and development through expanded trade and investment.
Ministers welcomed the report by the SOM Chair on the progress of work since the beginning
of the year and encouraged officials to focus on areas where concrete outcomes can be achieved.WT/L/520
Page 2
Strengthening the Multilateral Trading System
The importance of the Cancún Ministerial to the Doha Development Agenda
Ministers reaffirmed the importance of supporting an open, rules-based, multilateral trading
system under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the urgency of advancing the Doha
Development Agenda leading up to the September Cancún Ministerial. Ministers welcomed the strong
G-8 statement on the importance of Cancún to the global economy and global development goals. The
ministers noted the need for progress on the core economic agenda, and that European Union action
on Common Agriculture Policy reform would be a positive step in this process. While recognizing
their different levels of development and interests, they pledged to work together as a unified entity to
ensure the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) by 1 January 2005, whichis essential for strengthening the world trading system, promoting world economic development and
social advancement, and achieving the Bogor Goals.
Ministers welcomed the Director-General of the WTO, H.E. Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi to the
meeting and took note of his report on the on-going WTO negotiations. They acknowledged thatimportant deadlines have been missed on agriculture, TRIPS and public health, special and
differential treatment, implementation-related issues and concerns, the Dispute Settlement
Understanding, and non-agricultural market access. They affirmed the need for further progress on
these issues and determined to arrive at appropriate solutions during the lead-up to the 5th Ministerial
Conference.
Ministers emphasized the importance of their Leaders’ Declaration on the WTO in Los
Cabos. They also reiterated their Leaders’ call on all WTO Members to intensify substantive
discussions on all elements of the DDA in an effort to create a positive environment for the overall
negotiations and the success of the Conference.
Ministers affirmed that the success of the DDA will largely depend on the progress made in
agriculture, market access for goods and services, and development-related issues. Ministers also
stressed the need to advance the work on WTO rules and to take a decision based on an explicit
consensus in Cancún on the modalities for the negotiations of the Singapore issues, namely trade and
investment, trade and competition policy, transparency in government procurement, and trade
facilitation.
Ministers reaffirmed that the final outcome of the negotiations under the DDA must be a
single undertaking that reflects a global balance of interests across all sectors and among all
participants.
Ministers reiterated the importance of developing economies’ special needs and development
concerns which are critical to the success of th e DDA. They reaffirmed their commitment to work
urgently to develop an expeditious solution in the WTO on outstanding TRIPS and access to
medicines issues.
Ministers also reaffirmed the importance of WTO capacity building as a tool for helping
developing economies enjoy the full benefits of WT O membership, and as APEC’s contribution to the
successful completion of the DDA. They applauded the WTO capacity building activities of APEC
members, including the useful discussions of th e recent APEC workshops on Trade and Environment,
Geographical Indications, and Investment held in Bangkok in May 2003. They expressed satisfactionwith the report of APEC’s WTO Capacity Building Group and instructed that it be forwarded together
with the summary reports of all APEC capacity building activities to the WTO. They called for further
strong support for such actions.WT/L/520
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Ministers emphasized that trade and environment policies should be mutually supportive, and
that negotiations should not undermine economies’ comparative advantage nor weaken existing WTO
disciplines.
Ministers agreed to reactivate the APEC-Geneva Caucus as a forum for APEC to exchange
views and information on APEC’s work and contributio n to the process in Geneva and instructed their
officials to ensure that Ministers’ views in Khon Kaen be appropriately represented.
Ministers reiterated their support for the WTO accessions of Russia and Vietnam. They
agreed to continue their efforts to bring these economies into early entry to the WTO. Ministers also
noted that newly-acceded Members had indicated that they may face difficulties in implementing their
accession commitments and the results of new round negotiations in the same timeframe.
Developments in Regional Trade Arrangements and Free Trade Agreements
Ministers acknowledged the development of intra-APEC RTAs/FTAs and welcomed APEC’s
discussions and information sharing on such agreements. Ministers noted that comprehensiveRTAs/FTAs can promote overall liberalization in the region and help to ensure that the momentum in
the DDA negotiations is maintained.
While recognizing that RTAs/FTAs are comple mentary to multilateral trade liberalization,
Ministers reiterated Leaders’ emphasis that RTAs/FTAs must be consistent with both the WTO’srules and disciplines and APEC’s goals and principles and serve as instruments towards achieving the
Bogor Goals.  Ministers instructed officials to hold further policy dialogues on RTAs/FTAs to discuss
the impact of these mechanisms on the achievement of the Bogor Goals.
Trade and Investment Liberalization and Facilitation
Ministers reviewed APEC’s trade policies and measures that contribute to trade and
investment expansion and economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region and welcomed progress on
implementation in the following areas:
1. Trade Facilitation
Ministers emphasized the importance of APEC’s trade facilitation work to achieve the  Bogor
goals and welcomed progress made so far to reduce transaction costs by five percent by 2006
under  the APEC Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP), including a menu of concrete actions
and measures to facilitate trade. They acknowledged the successful outcome of the Trade
Policy Dialogue on APEC and WTO work on Trade Facilitation and encouraged membereconomies to continue this exchange of information.
Ministers called for further work to implement the TFAP, recognizing the importance of
achieving concrete and measurable results in this area and engaging the business community.
They called for confidence and capacity building activities that would assist individualeconomies to implement the TFAP and encouraged greater use of public-private partnerships.
They instructed officials to continue to iden tify and undertake work that would build on the
existing base of knowledge on trade facilitation, including on how to measure and reduce
transaction costs. In this context, Ministers welcomed a number of project proposals putforward by member economies to pursue a clear and appropriate mechanism to measure the
progress in implementing trade facilitation initiatives.  They asked that Senior Officials report
progress on the TFAP to the APEC Ministerial Meeting in October 2003.WT/L/520
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2. Counter-Terrorism
Ministers expressed deep concerns on  the significant economic consequences of terrorism,
particularly for developing economies, and reiterated their united resolve to secure and
facilitate trade. They welcomed the creation of the Counter-Terrorism Task Force and ActionPlan and reaffirmed the importance of achieving security and facilitation of trade as mutually
reinforcing goals. They called on Senior Officials and APEC fora to explore security
measures that would both facilitate and secu re trade as APEC economies implement the Los
Cabos Statement on Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Growth.
Ministers welcomed the progress made in implementing the Secure Trade in the APEC
Region (STAR) initiative, endorsed by APEC Economic Leaders in October 2002, to ensurethat the movement of goods and people is both more secure and efficient and stressed the
importance of capacity building to assist economies in  meeting deadlines. Ministers
emphasized that efforts to increase the security of transportation, including greater
cooperation between enforcement officials and the private sector  and more use of information
technology, could also facilitate trade.
Ministers praised efforts by member economies to establish container security regimes and to
protect ships engaged in international voyage called for by Leaders as part of the STAR
initiative. They noted particular projects underway in Canada; China; Hong Kong, China;
Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Philippines;  Singapore; Thailand; and the United States.
They called on APEC economies to promote additional projects to achieve these goals .
Ministers noted work undertaken to secure the flow of people in transit, including the
development of standards for Advance Passenger Information and immigration service
cooperation to improve the security of travel documentation and issuing systems.
Ministers strongly acknowledged that security in the APEC region must be applied across all
economies and emphasized that capacity building, of individuals and institutions, including
providing essential equipment, is of primary importance. They welcomed the ongoing efforts
of APEC economies and APEC fora  to develop targeted capacity building programs to help
developing APEC economies implement APEC Leaders’ counter-terrorism commitments,
including in areas such as airport security and anti-money laundering policy.
Ministers instructed the Counter-Terrorism Task Force to facilitate the development of
capacity building programs and ensure communication between fora. They encouraged
cooperation between public and private sectors to further strengthen supply chain security and
to facilitate cross-border trade. Ministers also stressed the importance of building businessconfidence by sharing information on measures taken to secure trade.
3. Pathfinder Initiatives
Ministers urged wider participation in the pathfinder initiatives that Leaders endorsed in 2002,
and welcomed the significant progress on Advance Passenger Information systems, electronic
SPS certificates, and the Revised Kyoto Convention on customs procedures. They noted the
efforts made to follow through on the Pathfinder Statement to Implement APEC Policies on
Trade and the Digital Economy, endorsing a "Next Steps" plan to ensure progress on this
initiative. They also noted the proposal for Future Work, and instructed officials to undertakework on Digital Piracy as appropriate. They stressed the importance of ensuring progress in
the remaining pathfinder initiatives endorsed by Leaders in 2002 and tasked officials to
conduct periodic reviews of progress in these areas.WT/L/520
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Ministers endorsed the proposed new pathfinder initiative for the Sectoral Food MRA. They
encouraged officials to continue further identification of activities in APEC as potential
candidates for the pathfinder approach and encouraged further discussions on their
implementation.
4. APEC Transparency Standards
Ministers reiterated the importance for economies of implementing the Leaders’
Transparency Standards by the January 2005 deadline and endorsed the work plan to achieve
this mandate. They also instructed official s to complete work underway to develop area-
specific Transparency Standards and urged early implementation of concrete capacity
building projects and actions. Ministers emphasized the importance of demand-drivencapacity building to assist developing member economies in implementing the Leaders’
Transparency Standards Statement.
5. Individual and Collective Action Plans
Ministers welcomed the successful Individual Action Plan (IAP) reviews on Australia,
Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Thailand. They took note of progress to complete peer reviews of
Hong Kong, China; Korea; and New Zealand; and urged all economies to submit their IAPs
for review by SOM I in 2005 in time for the mid-term stocktake in 2005 on overall progress
towards the Bogor goals. They also welcomed recommendations to further improve the IAPpeer review process.
Ministers instructed officials to review the collective action plans and ensure they correspond
to work APEC needs to undertake to meet the Bogor goals. They noted a need to intensify
work and emphasized, in particular, the importance of implementing current initiatives ontrade facilitation.
Ministers looked forward to continuing close cooperation within APEC aimed at improving
IPR facilitation, protection and enforcement, and endorsed establishment of IPR Service
Centers with the understanding that each member economy will proceed with implementation
as soon as it is  ready. They also welcomed the plan to develop a Comprehensive Strategy on
IPR Protection in APEC by the APEC Ministerial Meeting in October 2003. Ministersemphasized the importance of implementation of the APEC IP Toolkit through well-targeted
projects which take into account the particular needs of developing APEC economies.
Interaction with the Business Community
1. Dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)
Ministers recognized the unique role of ABAC in providing advice on concrete initiatives that
APEC should adopt to improve the business environment in the Asia Pacific region and
welcomed the presentation and discussion of ABAC’s preliminary report on itsrecommendations to Leaders. They welcomed the priority ABAC placed in that report on the
need for progress on the Doha Development Agenda, securing and facilitating trade, IPR,
implementing the APEC Transparency Statement, developing capacity building programs and
bolstering business confidence in the wake of the SARS crisis.
Ministers committed to consider ABAC recommendations with a view to deliver concrete
outcomes, noting that a number of initiatives  identified by ABAC are being pursued by
APEC. They emphasized the need to continue strengthening the linkage and relationship
between the government and private sector.WT/L/520
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2. Chemicals, Automotive and Biotechnology Dialogues
Ministers welcomed the improved understanding that has been achieved as a result of the
Chemicals, Automotive, and Agri cultural Biotechnology Dialogues.
Ministers expressed their concern over the potential economic and trade effects of the
European Commission’s proposed regulato ry framework for chemicals and downstream
products (REACH system). In particular, Minist ers noted the possible impact of the REACH
system on the region’s manufacturing sector, SMEs, APEC developing economies and those
whose commodity exports are crucial to th eir economic growth. With the objective of
establishing a constructive and meaningful exchange on the proposed REACH system,
Ministers welcomed the EC’s willingness to receive comments from stakeholders and calledon the EC to consult widely with trading partners on its draft legislative proposal.
Ministers welcomed the second APEC High Level Biotechnology Dialogue held in Chiang
Rai in February 2003. They recognized the benefits of biotechnology in improving
productivity, increasing nutrition and enhancing the environment. They reaffirmed theimportance of the safe introduction and use of biotechnology products based on sound
scientific risk assessment and risk management. They reiterated the need for enhancing public
awareness and confidence in biotechnology products and called on officials to develop a
better understanding in this area.
3. Outreach Activities
Ministers reiterated the importance of implementing APEC’s Communication and Outreach
Strategy and welcomed the initiative of Vietnam to organize an APEC Week in Ha Noi and
Ho Chi Minh City from 2-7 September 2003 as a token of efforts to make APEC morerelevant to the business and the community at large.
Structural Reform
Recognizing that continuing global economic un certainties highlight the need for greater
efforts to boost business and investor confidence, Ministers stressed that APEC should continue its
work to ensure that policies of open markets are complemented by genuine efforts to progress withstructural reform and constantly review policies and practices in these areas. They reiterated that these
"behind-the-border" reforms are necessary to support "at the border" trade and investment
liberalization and facilitation initiatives.
Ministers encouraged the various ongoing works in the area of strengthening the functioning
of markets, including on competition policy and deregulation, corporate governance, corporate
restructuring, and Strengthening Economic Legal Infrastructure activities, in, inter-alia, commercial
law, laws related to debt collection, securities interests and international financing to help build
member economies' capacity to meet changing market demands and to engender business and investor
confidence. Ministers also encouraged strengthening of  social safety nets to complement the structural
reform efforts.
Science and Technology
Recognizing the importance of public-private sector collaboration in life sciences innovation,
Ministers welcomed the establishment of  the Life Sciences Innovation Forum and agenda for the
forum’s inaugural meeting to be held on 14-15 August 2003.WT/L/520
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Ministers welcomed the initiative of "Innovative APEC" and recognized the importance of
promoting cooperation on science and technology innovation as a means to ensure the long-term
economic growth of APEC member economies. Ministers welcomed the proposed workshop on the
development of science and technology intermediary mechanism to be hosted by China as a concrete
deliverable to the APEC process.
Ministers noted that connecting innovative science, policy and business will be a key feature
of the 4th APEC Science and Technology Ministeria l meeting to be hosted by New Zealand in March
2004.
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