APEC Ministers of Trade Meeting

Your Excellency the Prime Minister:
Ministers of Trade and Representatives of the APEC Member Economies:
Distinguished Participants:
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I feel privileged that H.E. the Prime Minister has honored us with his presence and will be delivering the opening speech to welcome APEC ministers to the meeting.

In my capacity as Minister of Commerce, I must thank the people of Khon Kaen, businessmen, civil servants, members of the press and all involved in organizing this event. They are the people who have spent months co-ordinating with the Ministry of Commerce in the preparation for this meeting.

APEC consists of 21 member economies with a total population of over 2.5 billion and a GDP of 19 million million U.S. Dollars. APEC exports account for 46% of total world export and Intra-APEC Trade accounts for over 70% of global trade. It can thus be said that APEC is an enormous market with vast potential for the expansion of trade and joint investment among its member economies. APEC also plays an important role as a driver toward successes in regional and world economy.

APEC was established in 1989 to promote regional and global economic expansion, promote multi-lateral trade, reduce barriers and facilitate the trade of goods and services as well as to facilitate investment amongst member economies.

A landmark achievement of APEC is the Bogor Declaration, resultant of the 1994 APEC Leaders Meeting. The Declaration marked the year 2010 for trade and investment liberalization within the region for developed economies and the year 2020 for developing economies. In the APEC forum, this Declaration is commonly referred to as the Bogor Goal.

All in all, APEC is not a negotiating forum but a consulting forum where actions are based on unanimous agreement and voluntary consent, taking into account the differences between developed and developing economies. APEC has assisted in the development of trade without having to go to negotiations but with the voluntary co-operation of member economies through activities such as trade facilitation, voluntary trade liberalization, and the ECOTECH (economic and technical cooperation) scheme which contributed toward member economies' expansion of trade and investment.

Apart from this, APEC is a forum which recognizes the importance of private sector participation and has provided opportunities for the private sector to voice their opinions to APEC leaders so that they may be used to improve future APEC plans, making them responsive to the needs of the private sector and leading to increased trade expansion and investment in member economies.

The APEC 2003 theme set by Thailand - A World of Differences: Partnership for the Future - signifies that amidst the cultural, social, political and developmental differences, member economies will cooperate as partners in order to advance together to a future society of sustainable development.

Also, the sub-topics of APEC 2003 relating directly to the MRT are "Knowledge-Based Economy for All" and "Action Development Pledge," topics which have been discussed in many previous MRT meetings. These sub-topics will be further discussed in this meeting.

Within the mentioned outline, APEC MRT will discuss trade facilitation, collaboration in WTO discussions and re-establishing business confidence after many economies have been adversely affected by the SARS and terrorist incidents. It is hoped that we will be able to reach a concrete conclusion which will promote sustainable economic development.

Now is the auspicious time. I would like to call upon H.E. the Prime Minister to present the opening speech which will provide the outlining trend for this APEC MRT.

Your Excellency.