APEC Ministerial Meeting in Lima, Peru
The Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, will travel to Peru for the 20th APEC Ministerial Meeting, to be held this week in Lima.
“The APEC Meeting provides an excellent opportunity to build on the G20 Leaders' statement calling for a successful conclusion to the WTO Doha Round," said Mr Crean.
“APEC can assist the global community in responding to the G20 declaration by helping to prepare for a WTO Ministerial meeting next month,” he said.
“A breakthrough in the Doha Round would make a major contribution to restoring confidence in the global economy during this period of financial turbulence.
“The APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) will convene at a time of unprecedented uncertainty in the global financial system.
“The AMM provides a significant opportunity to stress the importance of promoting confidence in the global trading system and to seek a renewed determination to expeditiously achieve a successful conclusion to the Doha Round.
“At the meeting I will be calling on my counterparts to reaffirm APEC’s long standing commitment to free and open markets in the region, and to resist any call for protectionist measures, which would only exacerbate the global financial crisis.
“I will continue to push the need to accelerate APEC’s regional economic integration agenda and to intensify efforts to implement structural economic reform in member economies.
“Following on from Australia’s successful hosting of the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Structural Reform in August, I will reinforce that tackling behind the border barriers to trade and investment is fundamentally important for the creation of efficient, resilient and robust economies.
“I will also host a meeting of those Cairns Group Ministers who are in Lima for the APEC meetings to continue discussions on the Doha Round, particularly to discuss the ways in which we can provide the political will necessary to conclude modalities this year.
“I am also convening a meeting of the next three hosts of APEC - Singapore, Japan and the United States - to discuss our priorities going forward to 2011,” he said.
Australia has a strong commitment to APEC, the premier forum for promoting trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific. It has been central to building regional prosperity and security for nearly 20 years, accounting for 55 per cent of world GDP and 49 per cent of world trade.
More than two thirds of Australia’s total trade in goods and services is with APEC economies.
Media Inquiries: Mr Crean's office 02 6277 7420 - Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555