The Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade from the 21 Asia-Pacific economies took place on 18 May, 2019 in Viña del Mar. After 4 years without a joint statement on the multilateral trading system, the members joined forces in calling for support for a reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The meeting, led by Chile’s Foreign Affairs Minister and Chair of the group, Roberto Ampuero, was marked by conversation and dialogue between the APEC member economies, generating ideas and energy for progressing towards trade that is open and has clear rules.
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“We affirm the importance of transparent and non-discriminatory, agreed upon rules in the WTO, which can enhance market predictability, enable business confidence, and allow trade to flow. Recognizing the WTO’s role in this regard, we agree that action is necessary to improve its functioning,” the statement reads.
During the meetings of the Ministers of Trade, the priorities outlined by Chile were discussed: Women, SMEs and Inclusive Growth, Digital Society; Integration 4.0; and Sustainable Growth. They also addressed deepening APEC’s Regional Economic Integration Agenda.
Viet Nam’s delegation led by Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Tran Quoc Khanh attended the meetings.
APEC’s Second Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM2), Multi-stakeholders Dialogue on APEC post 2020 vision, PECC meetings and about 30 meetings of Committees, working groups took place on May 03 and 16 in Vina del Mar and brought together representatives from the 21 APEC member economies, and observes such as ASEAN, PECC, PIF. It was chaired by the APEC Chile 2019 SOM Chair, Mathias Francke, and attended by APEC’s Executive Director, Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria.
During the two-day meeting, the officials received reports from the different groups and committees and reviewed the progress made with the four priorities proposed by Chile for this year: Digital Society; Integration 4.0; Women, SMEs and Inclusive Growth; and Sustainable Growth.
One of the key outcomes was the approval by consensus of the first deliverable for APEC Chile 2019. The initiative titled “Addressing the pending issues of the Bogor Goals: a final push for services” was approved at the plenary meeting of APEC’s Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), where 19 areas of work were agreed.
Another important outcome from this week was the approval by APEC’s Committee on Trade and Investment of Chile’s “Strategic Action Plan 2020-2050 for Cooperation on APEC Global Value Chains.” This action plan will contribute towards generating an environment favorable to the development of global value chains. It will do this through promotion and cooperation activities with the goal of reducing the barriers to trade and investment that impede the development of global value chains.
Chile also presented its updated proposal for developing the “Santiago roadmap on Women and Inclusive Growth”, which was well received by all the APEC economies. Given the broad support received, the roadmap is likely to become a way of organizing APEC’s work on this area for the coming years. This is expected to be one of Chile's key deliverables at the end of this year.
Chile’s focus on Sustainable Growth also received broad support. The APEC economies confirmed the importance of conserving the oceans, especially of keeping them free from plastic, and also of combating illegal fishing./.
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