ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) INFORMATION SESSION

1. ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) INFORMATION SESSION PRESENTED BY: DATO’ N.VASUDEVAN SENIOR DIRECTOR ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION DIVISION (APEC) MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY

2. APEC Member Economies APEC MEMBER ECONOMIES APEC Official Observers • Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat • Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) • Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)

3. APEC’S ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE World US$38 trillion APEC US$17 trillion World US$58 trillion APEC US$32 trillion World6.8billion APEC 2.7 billion Source: StatsAPEC, Key Indicators Database.

4. GUIDING PRINCIPLES • In 1994, APEC Leaders issued the Bogor Declaration, known as Bogor Goals. Bogor envisions to achieve free and open trade and investment on the Asia Pacific by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies. • APEC activities are focused on 3 areas: • Trade and Investment Liberalisation; • Business Facilitation; and • Economic and Technical Cooperation. • Initiatives are based on voluntary, consensus-based and non-binding principles as well as open regionalism principles. • Peer pressure is the key driving force in achieving results.

5. GUIDING PRINCIPLES • Activities are guided by Osaka Action Agenda involving 15 areas: • Tariffs; • Non-tariff measures; • Services; • Investment; • Standards and Conformance; • Customs Procedures; • Intellectual Property; • Competition Policy; • Government Procurement; • Deregulation/Regulatory Review; • WTO Obligations (inc. Rules of Origin); • Dispute Mediation; • Mobility of Business People; • Information Gathering and Analysis; and • APEC Food System. • Monitoring is done through annual reporting and APEC Review Process.

6. HOW APEC OPERATES

7. APEC SUB-FORAS • Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) comprises of 8 Sub-Committees/ Expert Group and 4 Industry Dialogues: • Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC); • Sub-Committee on Customs Procedure (SCCP); • Market Access Group (MAG); • Group on Services; • Investment Experts Group (IEG); • Intellectual Property Experts Group (IPEG); • Business Mobility Group (BMG); • Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECSG). • Automotive Dialogue (AD); • Chemical Dialogue (CD); • Life Sciences Innovation Forum; and • High Level Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Biotechnology.

8. APEC SUB-FORAS • Economic Committee (EC) sub-fora is: • Competition Policy and Law Group. • Other Groups are: • APEC Business Advisory Council; • APEC Study Centers Consortium; and • Finance Ministers Process.

9. APEC SUB-FORAS • SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) comprise of: • Special Task Groups (4): • Anti Corruption and Transparency Experts’ Task Force (ACTF); • Counter Terrorism Task Force (CTTF); • Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN); and • Mining Task Force (MTF).

10. APEC SUB-FORAS • Working Groups (12): • Agriculture Technical Cooperation; • Emergency Preparedness; • Fisheries; • Energy; • Health; • Human resources Development; • Industrial Science and Technology; • Marine Resources Conservation; • Small & Medium Enterprise; • Telecommunication and Information; • Tourism; and • Transportation.

11. BENEFITS FROM APEC • Among the benefits from APEC since its inception in 1989 include: • APEC's total trade has grown 395%, significantly outpacing the rest of the world and GDP (in PPP terms) in the APEC region has tripled. • Average tariffs in the region have been reduced from about 17% in 1989 to around 5.8% in 2010. • APEC Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP) has resulted to reduce the cost of business transactions across the region by 5% between 2002 and 2006. • APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) provides time and cost savings to business people and facilitates travel in the region, by allowing visa free travel and express lane transit at airports. (4,000 Malaysian ABTC holders). • Since 1993, more than 1,200 capacity building projects initiated to build capacity and skills to enable members to participate .more fully in regional economy and liberalisation process.

12. APEC PRIORITIES FOR 2012 • Russia host for APEC 2012. The theme is “Integrate to Grow, Innovate to Prosper” APEC Priorities for 2012 • Liberalising trade and investment and expanding regional economic integration • Strengthening food security • Establishing reliable supply chains • Fostering innovative growth

13. TRADE AND INVESTMENT LIBERALIZATION REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION • Major Areas: • Delivering an agreed APEC list of Environmental • Goods for liberalisation by 2015. • Building momentum towards expanding the ITA. • Identifying next generation issues for capacity • building. • Strengthening collaboration in regulatory • coherence and structural reform. • Making progress towards the FTAAP.

14. STRENGTHENING FOOD SECURITY • Major Areas: • increasing transparency, monitoring and • information exchange. • Developing markets infrastructure, reduce costs • and losses in food chains. • Promoting innovative agricultural development. • Improving quality and safety of food products. • Reaching conformity to food safety standards.

15. ESTABLISHING RELIABLE SUPPLY CHAINS • Improving connectivity of supply chains within the APEC region and outside by: • tackling the bottlenecks; • contributing to transparency and visibility of supply chains; • identifying and removing restrictions on information exchange; • promoting application of promising tracking technologies; • advancing logistics, navigation and customs technologies; and • strengthening capacities in emergency prevention and improving related coordination.

16. INTENSIVE COOPERATION TO FOSTER INNOVATIVE GROWTH • Fostering innovations: • developing hi-tech sectors and addressing barriers to investment; • promoting technological progress through networking; • building up platforms for intensive cross-border • cooperation; • facilitating business’ interests in innovations; • developing ICT technologies, Internet economy; and • contributing to the development of human capital

17. CAPACITY BUILDING • Economic and Technical Cooperation (ECOTECH) is one of the main activities of APEC. • It aims to bridge the development gap among developed and developing economies in APEC through capacity building activities. • Capacity building activities are funded by APEC through: • Operational Account (OA) ; • Trade & Investment Liberalisation & Facilitation Special Account (TILF); and • APEC Support Fund & Sub-Funds (ASF).

18. FUNDING Operational Account (OA) • OA is funded from annual membership contributions. • Supports initiatives under APEC’s economic and technical cooperation agenda which is aimed at attaining sustainable growth and equitable development, while reducing economic disparities among APEC economies and improving economic and social well-being. • All member economies eligible to apply.

19. FUNDING Trade & Investment Liberalisation& Facilitation Special Account (TILF) • TILF is sourced from voluntary member contributions. It provides funding for projects that expand cooperative programs and support trade and investment liberalization and facilitation as articulated by Leaders’ or Ministers’ directives and the Osaka Action Agenda. • All TILF projects must clearly contribute to achieving trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, as it relates to at least one of the 15 areas listed in Part 1 of the Osaka Action Agenda.

20. FUNDING APEC Support Fund & Sub-Funds (ASF) • The ASF and its sub-funds are sourced from voluntary member contributions. The ASF supports capacity-building needs for APEC developing economies in agreed high-priority areas for economic and technical cooperation. • All APEC member economies may apply for ASF funds. There are no self-funding requirements for ASF funds. However, all ASF projects must clearly demonstrate that they address the capacity building needs of developing member economies.

21. FUNDING CRITERIA • Rank 1: Projects that specifically and significantly contribute to promoting regional economic integration • Rank 2: Projects that directly support the Action Plan in the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy • Rank 3: Projects that are linked to other priorities identified by Leaders and Ministers but are less closely linked to regional economic integration via free and open trade and investment

22. FUNDING CRITERIA Rank 1: Projects that specifically and significantly contribute to promoting regional economic integration: • Next generation trade and investment issues; • Strengthening multilateral trading system and supporting FTAs/RTAs; • Promoting innovation policy; • Promoting greater alignment in regulatory approaches, including through standards, regulatory; and • coherence & cooperation, technical regulations, conformity assessment, risk assessment

23. FUNDING CRITERIA (cont.) Rank 1: Projects that specifically and significantly contribute to promoting regional economic integration: • Trade facilitation and supply chain performance; • Environmental goods and services; • Cooperation in information technology and digital economy; • Investment & services; • Ease of doing bussiness; and • Promotion and development of SMEs & entrepreneurship.

24. FUNDING CRITERIA Rank 2: Projects that directly support the Action Plan in the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy: Sustainable Growth • Energy security • Renewable energy development, alternative energy sources • Reducing energy intensity and promoting energy-efficient technologies • Phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies

25. FUNDING CRITERIA (cont.) Rank 2: Projects that directly support the Action Plan in the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy: Sustainable Growth • Facilitating trade in remanufactured goods. • Conservation, sustainable management, and rehabilitation of forest resources, combating illegal • Logging and associated trade. • Green jobs education and training. • Climate change mitigation and adaptation. • Sustainable development of oceans and their crucial role in climate change and food security.

26. FUNDING CRITERIA (cont.) Rank 2: Projects that directly support the Action Plan in the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy: Secure Growth • Food security, food safety and agricultural technology cooperation • Emergency preparedness and natural disasters • Strengthening health system • Counter terrorism initiatives/anti-money laundering activities • Fighting corruption and improving governance and transparency

27. FUNDING CRITERIA (cont.) Rank 2: Projects that directly support the Action Plan in the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy: Inclusive Growth • Human resources development • Women and the economy Other issues connected with Innovative Growth • Education • Research cooperation

28. FUNDING CRITERIA (cont.) Rank 2: Projects that directly support the Action Plan in the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy: Balanced Growth • Implementation of the APEC New Strategy for Structural Reform (ANSSR). • Strengthening financial markets (including financial regulatory systems and capital market. • development), financial inclusion and ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability.

29. FUNDING CRITERIA Rank 3: Projects that are linked to other priorities identified by Leaders and Ministers but are less closely linked to regional economic integration via free and open trade and investment such as: • Activities which contribute to balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth in the longer term; • Youth issues; • Initiatives which support trade recovery (e.g. the APEC Trade Recovery Programme); and • Tourism.

30. APPROVAL PROCESS: STAGES Concept Notes Approval Process • Step 1 –template in APEC Guidebook (8th Edition) • Step 2 –Concept Notes (CN) submission to Working Groups (WG) for comments/ to get co-sponsors (CN contains relevance, objectives, alignment and methodology) • Step 3 –WG review and endorse and prioritise • Step 4 –Submission of endorsed CN to Programme Director (PD) • Step 5 –Priority Assessments of CN by Committee (CTI, EC and SCE) • Step 6 –Secretariat combines rankings • Step 7 –Secretariat recommends to Budget Management Committee (BMC) • Step 8 –BMC approved CN in principle • Step 9 –Result inform to Project Proponent (PP)

31. APPROVAL PROCESS: STAGES Full Proposal Approval Process • Step 10 –PP develops 12 pages of full proposal which contains the elements of project relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. • Step 11 –PP submits full proposal for Quality Assessment Framework and endorsement • Step 12 –PP submits to APEC Secretariat for quality assessment • Step 13 –BMC approves for funding • Step 14 and 15 –PP submits Monitoring and Completion Reports

32. ROLE OF CO-SPONSORS • Provide comments, ideas to improve the quality of Concept Notes; • Identify speakers for the project; • Evaluate the proposal using Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) form.

33. THANK YOU