Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

APEC was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence among Asia-Pacific economies. Its goal is to advance Asia-Pacific economic dynamism and sense of community. APEC has become the primary regional vehicle for promoting open trade and practical economic cooperation. APEC Members aim to meet the Bogor Goals of free and open trade by 2010 for developed economies or 2020 for developing economies.

Australia continues to participate actively in the work of APEC, including in relation to foreign investment. Australia’s main investment interest in APEC is to encourage APEC Members to enhance the environment for investment liberalisation in their economies and to improve transparency.

In the lead up to Australia hosting APEC in 2007, Treasury’s Foreign Investment and Trade Policy Division has taken on a more active and strategic role in APEC's work on investment liberalisation and facilitation by accepting the IEG Chair’s position from 2005. The IEG is tasked with taking forward APEC’s investment liberalisation objectives. As Convenor, Australia is developing a more comprehensive work plan focussed on:

• both general and sectoral investment liberalisation;
• increased transparency of investment regimes in the APEC region;
• work to increase coherence and convergence in the approach to investment chapters in free trade agreements of APEC Members; and
• increasing policy dialogue with business and international organisations so as to improve analytical outputs and deliver more projects directed at demonstrated capacity building needs.
  

Preliminary work is underway to develop the relationship with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the area of dispute settlement. UNCTAD has indicated a strong willingness to contribute to a regional workshop to discuss key substantive and procedural issues in 2006.

Business is also sharing its ideas concerning improvement of the regional investment environment, with particular focus on financial services’ liberalisation. Discussions with IEG hold the promise of work targeted at the further reduction of impediments to foreign direct investment flows, and improved evaluation of offers in the financial services sector in both the WTO and preferential trade agreements.

The IEG is forging closer working relationships with other APEC trade and investment facilitation working groups to draw on their areas of expertise. It is also actively seeking greater participation by member economies in taking on the hosting of investment seminars, and in using their own expertise to drive particular projects. Australia, as a member economy, has taken on responsibility for the publication of the sixth APEC Investment Guidebook.

In September 2005, the IEG held a meeting in Korea that delivered important mandates to begin and to continue work on many of the issues noted above. At this meeting, APEC Members discussed emerging policy issues with representatives from business, the OECD and UNCTAD with a view to developing projects of mutual benefit for 2006-07. Back-to-back with that meeting, the IEG also co-sponsored a seminar in Tokyo on recent developments in international investment agreements based on work by UNCTAD. The IEG recently held another event in Korea in November 2005 called ‘Investment Opportunities 2005’, which included an APEC-OECD Seminar on ‘Investment for Development’.