APEC 2006 Economic Leaders’ Week begins with CSOM

VNGOVNet – In the morning of November 12, the informal session of the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM Informal) was held at the National Convention Center, opening the APEC 2006 Economic Leaders’ Week scheduled from November 12-19 in Hanoi.

November 12, 2006 1:00 PM GMT+7

Opening session of the APEC Leaders’ Week – Photo: VNGOVNet

Five important meetings in the APEC 2006 Economic Leaders’ Week

* Concluding APEC Senior Official Meeting - CSOM (November 12-13)

* APEC Business Advisory Council Meeting - ABAC (November 14-16)

* 18th APEC Ministerial Meeting (November 15-16)

* APEC CEO Summit (November 17-19)

* 14th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (November 18-19)

In this meeting, senior officials from 21 APEC member-economies discussed major issues of the year 2006 to unlock stalled WTO agreements. They also mentioned the principles for the security of trademark supply chains against counterfeit and pirated goods. These issues will be discussed further by ministries and leaders of the APEC economies throughout the week.

These topics of discussion will provide information for the ministers and leaders to approve the Hanoi Action Plan.

Chairman of the CSOM, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affair Lê Công Phụng said that the WTO agreements will be of great importance for APEC meetings and among the member-economies to seek for better solutions in the next phase.

According to Mr. Phụng, the APEC can lead WTO members to re-ignite their negotiations and complete the Doha Development Agenda next year. The APEC member-economies are trying to not undermine the regional business environment and unduly increase transaction costs. APEC model measures will increase transparency of new free trade agreements and regional trade agreements (FTAs/RTAs) which will be of particular benefit to the member-economies during their negotiations. The APEC Ministerial Meeting will then consider model measures that cover areas, rules of origin, transparency, cooperation and others later in the week.

Advancing multilateral trade and high-quality FTAs/RTAs are important components of the Ministers and Leaders Meetings this week.

The Hanoi Action Plan will provide the details required to implement the Busan Roadmap to achieve the APEC Bogor Goals. The Plan will have core components that include support for the multilateral trading system, strengthening of collective and individual action plans (CAPs/IAPs), high-quality FTAs/RTAs, reinforcing of business activities in the region, and trade capacity building for the members.

Vân Anh - Kim Tùng