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Media Release
Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile
18 October 2001 / MVT147/2001
APEC Cuts Costs For Australian Business
Trade Minister Mark Vaile today welcomed the report APEC Economies: Breaking Down the Barriers which highlights the gains to business from administrative and regulatory reforms in APEC economies.
The APEC report, prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, examines reforms and gains to business in 11 APEC economies: Australia; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Korea; Mexico; Peru; the Philippines; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand and the United States.
"This study shows that removing regulatory impediments to competition and improving corporate governance have facilitated innovation, greater responsiveness to consumer needs, and a more favourable environment for investment and growth in APEC economies.
"Business benefits from the administrative and regulatory reforms in customs, quarantine and immigration procedures, telecommunications equipment and foreign investment facilitation," said Mr Vaile.
According to APEC Economic Committee estimates, trade facilitation measures completed in 1999 would add a quarter of a per cent of real GDP to APEC (or about US$46 billion in 1997 prices) by 2010.
The report highlights Australia's electronic transmission of certification system, SANCRT. SANCRT offers exporters a range of quarantine, public health, food safety and trade facilitation benefits including increased productivity, lower costs, the timely and secure delivery of data and improvements in government-to-government, business-to-government and business-to-business communications.
"Australia is working to have electronic certification extended to all APEC economies," Mr Vaile said.
Another Australian led trade facilitation initiative is the Multilateral Advance Passenger Processing (APP) which uses international communications networks to halve immigration processing times by conducting initial immigration clearances before travellers board their flights.
"I welcome APEC's endorsement of the APP trial to enhance the mobility of business travellers and improve their access to trade and investment opportunities in the region. These pre-flight checks also increase the security of international travel - an important factor in the current international environment," said Mr Vaile.
"In addition to these trade facilitation measures, APEC has also made significant gains through reducing tariffs, with two-thirds of trade in APEC now conducted at the very low tariff levels of between zero and five per cent."
The report is available from the DFAT website at www.dfat.gov.au/apec.
Contact: James Baker (Ministerial) 02 6277 7420 / Lyndall Sachs (Departmental) 02 6261 1555
Local Date: Friday, 05-Dec-2008 13:32:52 EST