APEC Symposium: Paperless Trading Capacity Building and Intellectual Property Rights Protection

I would like to begin by thanking China for extending the invitation to attend this Symposium. I am pleased to join with participants as we discuss how to best integrate the paperless trading intellectual resources of various APEC economies.

It is important to note that in the Asia-Pacific region, where APEC member economies account for almost 50% of world trade, paperless trading is widely seen as a key component in facilitating international trade. Paperless trading has contributed to meeting the 2001 Shanghai target of a five-percent reduction in trade transaction costs by 2006, and will continue to play a key role in trade facilitation work in APEC to achieving another five-percent reduction in trade transaction costs by 2010.

Recognizing the key role that governments play in initiating and establishing a healthy business environment for paperless trade, APEC Ministers have encouraged member economies to undertake individual and collective initiatives in cooperation with the private sector to create an enabling legal and regulatory environment to achieve APEC's paperless trading goals. I would like to outline some of APEC's history in this area.

APEC has played an active role in paperless trading since the 10th APEC Ministerial Meeting in 1998 (Kuala Lumpur). Ministers endorsed the Blueprint for Action on Electronic Commerce and agreed that member economies should endeavor to reduce or eliminate the requirement for paper documents needed for customs and other cross-border trade administration relevant to international sea, air and land transport, where possible, by 2005 for developed and 2010 for developing economies, or as soon as possible thereafter.

To date seventeen economies have prepared Paperless Trading Individual Action Plans. These plans outline the steps members should take to meet APEC's target to reduce or eliminate customs, cross-border trade administration and other documents relevant to international sea, air and land transport.

More recently in 2005 (Busan, Korea), Ministers instructed Officials to carry out further concrete actions in identified priority areas, such as fostering a paperless trading environment and urged all member economies to strengthen cooperation in this area with a view of reinforcing mutual cooperation and pushing forward the achievement of APEC's paperless trading goals.

At the 18th APEC Ministerial Meeting in 2006 (Ha Noi, Viet Nam), Ministers acknowledged the need to provide more training to the private sector, the major stakeholder and beneficiary of paperless trade and to share experiences and expertise regarding policy formulation and expand collaboration with international organizations in paperless trade.

In response to Ministers APEC fora and economies have undertaken numerous activities and actions towards a cross-border paperless trading environment. The implementation of APEC Pathfinders and intensifying capacity building through seminars and symposiums and increased collaboration with both the private sector and other international organizations expands APEC's ability to expand paperless trading.

For example the APEC E-Commerce Business Alliance (APEC-ECBA) proposed by China in 2001, and the establishment of the APEC Public-Private Partnership Dialogue on Paperless Trading aimed at assisting in the further development of the APEC Paperless Trading agenda help in moving towards a paperless trading environment. As does the involvement of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), Global Business Dialogue on e-Commerce (GBDe), Pan-Asian E-Commerce Alliance (PAA), and other appropriate business societies in APEC proceedings as they all nurture the sharing of information, and best practices.

The most recent effort on the part of APEC has been the Single Window Strategic Plan and the Single Window Development Plan which were endorsed and adopted in June 2007. This Strategic Plan provides a framework for the development of Single Window systems by members to achieve paperless trading targets and enable seamless data sharing. It contains recommendations to assist members in this endeavor and provides the mechanisms for APEC members to work collaboratively and agree on various issues where appropriate.

So you can see that APEC is committed and will continue to enhance its efforts to achieve its ultimate objective to establish a comprehensive paperless trading environment across the APEC region by 2020.

It is important to note that gains in the area of paperless trading contribute to the overall economic benefit of those economies by reducing costs, increasing security and transparency, and creating and enhancing efficiencies in intra-regional manufacturing supply chains; all of which can contribute to the wellbeing of the people of the region.

Nevertheless there are challenges to extending paperless trading. Issues such as delays in repealing some legislation mandating the use of paper-based documents, delays in passing domestic legislation to support electronic transactions, low levels of IT and telecommunications infrastructure in some economies and cost and complexity of providing relevant government trade services online are just a few that many APEC member economies must overcome.

Over and above these challenges however is the importance that any solutions take into consideration how best to ensure that SMEs are not left behind in this endeavor. SMEs form the economic backbone of the APEC region. According to the Profile of SMEs and SME Issues in APEC 1990-2000 which was published in 2003, SMEs account for over 98% of all enterprises and employ as much as 60% of the work force.

While they make a very important contribution to GDP growth and socio-economic development, they only account for about 30-35% of exports. This shows that contribution of SMEs in terms of trade is relatively low in comparison to their total number. Taking this into account, APEC has exerted substantial efforts to create an environment conducive to the development of SMEs and to help them gain access to international markets. Thus it is important that efforts to expand paperless trading take the needs of SMEs, a very important part of the private sector, into consideration.

Let me say a few words about our host's efforts in expanding paperless trading. China is an example of an economy that attaches great importance to the development of e-commerce. In order to achieve its goal of introducing paperless trading by 2010, China is developing a strategy to remove requirements for paper-based documents in cross-border trade. This involves providing e-government services to the trading community; passing supportive domestic legislation; formulating appropriate standards; establishing mediation mechanisms for resolving disputes arising from cross-border online transactions; and establishing international accreditation systems for the authentication of digital signatures.

I think it is accurate to say that progress has been made. And all these APEC initiatives have certainly contributed to move the region towards paperless trading. But we recognize that a great deal of work needs to be done for paperless trade to become a reality. And part of the challenge as I see it is how we best go about ensuring that SMEs are not left behind in this process. Because when SMEs benefit, smaller and less developed economies will benefit and will thus be prepared to face globalization.

Finally let me wish all participants interesting and productive discussions on these important topics.