Engagement with International Financial Institutions Important to Ongoing Economic and Technical Cooperation in APEC

Ongoing cooperation with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) will help APEC to deliver a more effective program of economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH), highlighted in the 2003 APEC Senior Officials' Report on ECOTECH.

The annual Senior Officials' Report on ECOTECH includes an assessment of ECOTECH projects conducted by APEC fora and outlines progress in the implementation of key ECOTECH initiatives in areas such as human capacity building, small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable development and strengthening markets.

The report will be presented to Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministers from APEC's 21 Member Economies on Saturday 18, 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand.

SOM Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (ESC) Chair, Ambassador Juan Carlos Capuñay of Peru, said the first APEC-IFI roundtable discussion conducted in Phuket, Thailand in August 2003, has served as an effective springboard for further cooperation and development of joint ECOTECH activities.

"Our meeting with IFIs earlier this year has already resulted in further cooperation in a number of areas. With the World Bank we will be working on the promotion of economic and technical cooperation in the areas of the knowledge-based economy and distance learning," said Ambassador Capuñay.

"Collaborative efforts in research on issues of regional economic interest are to be jointly undertaken between the APEC Economic Committee and the Asian Development Bank.

"Cooperation with IFIs will help APEC to reach out to a larger number of people in the region and leverage its limited resources to promote sustainable growth and equitable development in all APEC Member Economies.

"Our work with IFIs is based on a short-list of APEC-wide ECOTECH priorities agreed earlier this year which act as a strategic roadmap for APEC sectoral working group activities. These priorities include:

Ambassador Capuñay also indicated that a second Round Table with IFIs would be conducted next year in Chile to build on the successful cooperation developed this year.

"Next year we will involve the private sector in our discussions with IFIs at the second Senior Officials' meeting in Pucon, Chile," said Ambassador Capuñay.

"We see this business sector involvement as being essential to building effective programs which will help business, particularly SMEs and microenterprises, to take advantage of the global economy and the benefits it presents.

"SMEs and microenterprises are the lifeblood of APEC and the ESC will focus more attention on providing effective economic and technical cooperation programs to this important group throughout 2004".

Electronic copies of the Senior Officials' Report on ECOTECH will be available on the APEC Secretariat website from October 18, 2003.