The Hon. Mark Vaile, MP
The Hon. Mark Vaile, MP
FORMER MINISTER FOR TRADE

Speech

Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile

At the APEC Business Forum, Melbourne, 27 April 2001 

APEC - Helping Australian Exporters Cut Costs and Grow Markets

(Check Against Delivery)

Introduction

Thank you Geoff; our distinguished guest from China Mr Qin Xiao ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure to address this APEC Business Forum. I cannot stress too much the value our Government places on the input from Australia's businessmen and women on these important issues. 

Today I want to focus on APEC's current agenda - where we are going, and what APEC can mean for the business bottom-line.  I also want to take this opportunity to update you on the WTO and our Government's policy on Free Trade Agreements.

APEC - key to our regional priorities

APEC remains a cornerstone of our engagement in the Asia Pacific region, and this promises to be another busy year in the APEC calendar.

As the APEC chair for 2001, China is hosting a range of meetings culminating in the APEC CEO Summit and the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai in October. China has chosen as its key APEC themes:                                

The Asia Pacific business communities continue to drive APEC's agenda, through the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), chaired by our guest speaker Mr Qin (pron. Chin).  It was at the suggestion of one of Australia's ABAC members, David Murray that APEC Leaders agreed in Brunei last year to the establishment of an umbrella APEC Network of Institutes of Directors. 

Regional businesses also participate actively in industry working group meetings.  For example, the meetings of the APEC Transport and Telecommunications Working Groups and the APEC Automotive Dialogue attract business people in there hundreds, including a number in this room.  And, of course, this Forum is a key part of the domestic consultation process in shaping Australia's APEC agenda.

Practical gains for business

A striking feature of APEC's work is that it has become more and more responsive to the concerns of business, and more focused on practical, 'nuts and bolts' measures to lower business costs.

APEC has developed a range of tools and resources for business - all of which can be accessed through the BizAPEC.com website that I launched last year.  These range from the APEC Electrical MRA on Conformity Assessment (saving billions annually for the region's electrical and electronics exporters) to the APEC manual on air-shipment of live and fresh fish and seafood (providing guidance on preparing and packaging fresh seafood for air shipment to APEC economies).

At the same time, progress on achieving free trade under the ambitious Bogor Goals continues.  Not as fast as I would like; not as fast as you would like. But peer pressure has encouraged APEC economies to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers across a wide range of sectors.  Last year, tariff reductions by APEC member economies included:

In 2001, Australia is undertaking a study looking at the proportion of trade taking place in the APEC region at tariffs of 5% or below.  We are confident that this study will demonstrate the progress already made by APEC economies in terms of trade liberalisation.

And once the interactive web-based electronic Individual Action Plan (e-IAP) has been fully implemented this year, Australians will be better able to gauge APEC economies' progress towards the Bogor Goals.  The e-IAP is a mechanism that offers vastly improved access to information on the policy settings and liberalisation commitments of APEC member economies. 

I will be making further announcements regarding its launch later this year.

Progress towards the New Economy

In Brunei, APEC Leaders launched an action agenda for the New Economy, which includes a commitment to trebling regional Internet access by 2005 and giving all communities in APEC access by 2010.  This will be good for Australian exporters, since online export opportunities will expand as more firms in the region become connected to the Internet.

China has adopted the New Economy as a priority for APEC 2001. Australia and China have already co-hosted a successful APEC Electronic Commerce and Paperless Trading Symposium in Beijing in February.  This event hosted by China's Trade Minister Shi advanced APEC's New Economy agenda, fostering partnerships to help overcome the digital divide in the region.  It is a wonderful irony that China, the civilisation that invented paper, is forging ahead with APEC's paperless trading agenda with our support.

Currently an average trade transaction in our region involves 40 documents, 200 data elements and the re-keying of 60 to 70 per cent of the data.  Paperless trading will allow many of these processes to be eliminated, saving time and money for business and government.  We are looking to identify pilot projects to demonstrate the savings from paperless trading and I welcome any suggestions from companies here today for such projects.

APEC's new agenda

Today's Business Forum should demonstrate that there is a whole new agenda being developed in APEC.  It focuses on the new economy, human resource development, services trade, intellectual property, competition policy, and the evolution of strong and effective legal regimes and market-based institutions.  The agenda has grown, in large part, out of specific business concerns and demands, expressed through forums like this one.

Australia is working with China and others to develop this into a robust APEC work program to be pursued in parallel to a WTO round focused on market access issues.  APEC will continue to push for trade liberalisation and will add its voice to those calling for a new multilateral round. But its resources will increasingly turn to practical trade facilitation and capacity building - measures that will lower your business costs in the region.

APEC members are also expanding their contribution to the globalisation debate.  The success of Australia's report, Open Economies Delivering to People: APEC's Decade of Progress, highlighted the absolute necessity of communicating the benefits of trade liberalisation in the community.  To maintain that momentum, DFAT has commissioned a Study Guide for Secondary Students to accompany the Open Economies report.  The Guide, which is being despatched to all secondary schools in Australia, will help students explore the issues surrounding globalisation in a balanced and informed manner.

WTO: boosting access for Australian exports

Our Government is taking a range of other steps to assist Australian exporters.

With signs of a slowing global economy, the continued push for the launch of a new market access-focused round of WTO trade negotiations at this years WTO Ministerial in November takes on even more importance.  That opportunity for a WTO round launch is fast approaching.  The next WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Doha, Qatar, in November.  Australia remains strongly committed to the launch of a round at Doha, recognising the significant benefits increased market access will give Australian exporters.

But, make no mistake - the launch of a new round is by no means guaranteed.  A lot of ground must be covered between now and November.

APEC will provide a timely forum to accelerate the preparations for Qatar.  The APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting in June and the Leaders' Meeting in October (both in Shanghai) will come at crucial times in terms of mobilising support for the launch.  China's chairmanship of APEC, combined with its accession to the WTO and its desire to establish a leadership role in the region, provide it with the responsibility and capacity to help build momentum for a new round.

At meetings in Shanghai with USTR Bob Zoellick, Japan's Minister for Economy Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma, and other colleagues I will highlight the need for increased flexibility from the major developed economies.  That will be vitally important if we are to have any chance of launching a round this year.  I will also be taking advantage of the unique cross-section that is APEC's membership to urge developing countries to recognise the important benefits that will accrue to them from a new round.

APEC has been active in addressing developing country concerns, so apparent at Seattle, about implementation of the WTO Agreements.  For example, Australia has been working closely with Japan to provide capacity building programs.  And APEC has just funded developing country participation in a WTO seminar in Geneva, to help them prepare for industrial negotiations in a new round.  This WTO focus on preparation for industrial negotiations was itself initiated by Australia, Hong Kong and other APEC economies.

Australia, as chair of the Cairns Group, is determined to ensure that agriculture stays at the centre of any future negotiating agenda.  Meanwhile, the mandated WTO work to liberalise trade in agriculture and services has been continuing this year.  In both these negotiations, agreement has been reached to move to a more detailed phase of negotiations over coming months.  The Cairns Group has already submitted proposals to eliminate export subsidies and domestic subsidies that distort trade and production, and to substantially reduce agricultural tariffs.

Building support for the launch of a round at the Doha meeting is Australia's highest trade priority this year.  That is because, quite simply, a new round still offers the greatest potential for substantially improved access for the broad range of goods and services that Australia exports.

Other developments in the Asia Pacific                                                      

This year our Government is also pursuing several other trade policy initiatives in the Asia Pacific region to help increase market access opportunities for Australian exporters.

We are developing a Closer Economic Partnership between Australia, New Zealand and the countries of ASEAN, with emphasis on improving trade and investment opportunities between our nations.  We are negotiating a free trade agreement with Singapore with a strong focus on gaining better access for Australian services. 

I have also proposed to my Thai counterpart that we explore doing a joint scoping study on a bilateral free trade agreement.  I know this initiative has the support of a number of people here today like Leigh Purnell of the Australian Industry Group and Toyota's John Conomos.  Indications are that the new Thai government is well disposed to considering FTAs and I will be actively pursuing Australia's interests in a bilateral agreement in the next few weeks.

I have also raised with counterparts in Japan and Korea the next steps we might take to broaden economic cooperation.  In two days time at the Australia - Japan Conference, I will outline a vision for Australia-Japan economic relations in the next decade and beyond.

Finally, we are moving ahead with discussions on the prospects for an FTA between the US and Australia which was the focus of my recent visit to Washington.  The process is still at an early stage, but I was encouraged by the fact that the proposal was well received by key figures I met - in the Bush Administration, in Congress, and in business circles.  We have a hard road ahead, but the value of the United States as Australia's second largest trading partner and biggest source of foreign investment makes the effort worthwhile.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, our Government has a clear focus on securing the best possible outcomes for Australian business people - outcomes that will lower your cost of doing business, and increase your market access.  We are pursuing a constructive and practical agenda at APEC as an integral part of out trade agenda. I look forward to our panel discussion on issues you would like to see taken up.  As Australia's Trade Minister, I have a very simple view that APEC, the WTO and our bilateral trade negotiations are all about ensuring you grow your business through exports. 

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