APEC senior officials wrapped up the last day of the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM) with a plenary session on the morning of Nov. 13, reaching consensus on all important reports to be submitted to Ministers and Leaders of 21 member economies when they meet later in the week.
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APEC senior officials wrapped up the last day of the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM) with a plenary session on the morning of Nov. 13, reaching consensus on all important reports to be submitted to Ministers and Leaders of 21 member economies when they meet later in the week.
The two-day meeting, chaired by Viet Nam’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Cong Phung, covers a wide range of issues including economics, trade, investment, human security, counter-terrorism, disaster and pandemic management, cultural cooperation, tourism, anti-corruption and APEC reform.
Senior officials endorsed the annual report by the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) that includes a second-phase trade facilitation action plan (TFAP) in which member economies agree to a 5 percent reduction in business transaction costs for 2006-2010 period.
Negotiations are still going on among member economies on nine model measures for developing Regional Trading Arrangements and Free Trade Agreements (RTAs/FTAs). A number of these measures are expected to receive consensus soon and will then be submitted to Ministers for endorsement.
The officials also endorsed a Technology Choice Principles Pathfinder initiative for submission to Ministers.
Annual reports by the Economic Committee and Budget and Management Committee were also approved during the meeting.
The officials unanimously agreed to propose that Ministers and Leaders endorse the Outcomes Report of APEC Pandemic Response Simulation Exercise conducted on June 7-8 this year.
They also approved SOM Chair’s Summary Report on improvements in the individual action plans (IAPs) in 2006 and another report on the results of economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH) this year.
(Source: VNA)
