    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 37 (Monday, September 20, 1999)]
    [Pages 1735-1738]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    The Auckland Challenge: APEC Economic Leaders' Declaration

    September 13, 1999

        We, the Economic Leaders of APEC, celebrate here in Auckland ten
    years of unprecedented cooperation in our region, in pursuit of a vision
    of stability, security and prosperity for our peoples. We shall continue
    to exercise leadership to reach our goals and to meet the challenge we
    have set ourselves.
        We welcome the improved performance and prospects of our economies
    since we last met, and commend the actions taken to reform those
    economies affected by the crisis. The cooperative growth strategy we
    adopted in Kuala Lumpur, and sound macroeconomic policies in key
    economies, have supported the restoration of confidence and growth, and
    have allowed us to share growing confidence about our prospects.
        We are not complacent about the risks that might impede recovery and
    sustainable growth and we will sustain the momentum for reform.
    Continued multilateral and bilateral support is still important. We
    welcome and endorse the efforts of Ministers through the year in pursuit
    of APEC's goals. As Leaders, we accept responsibility for resisting
    protectionism, opening markets further, and addressing structural and
    regulatory weaknesses that contributed to the economic downturn from
    1997. We will achieve this by strengthening our markets through
    regulatory reform and enhanced competition and by improving the
    international framework governing trade and investment flows. To this
    end we commit to the launch of a new Round of negotiations in the World
    Trade Organisation.
        All people in our communities have a stake in the success of APEC.
    We want to ensure they achieve their full potential for improved
    economic and social well being. We particularly welcome the more active
    participation of women and business in APEC's work this year.

    Supporting Growth through Strong and Open Markets

        Improved competitiveness through ongoing reform is the road to
    recovery and sustainable growth. Through APEC, we seek to expand
    opportunities for business and employment growth, build strong and open
    markets and ensure that our communities

    and economies can participate successfully in the international economy.
    Open, transparent and well-governed markets, both domestic and
    international, are the essential foundation of prosperity and enable
    enterprises to innovate and create wealth.

        We will strengthen our markets by:
    <bullet>    providing greater transparency and predictability in
                corporate and public sector governance
    <bullet>    enhancing the role of competition to improve efficiency and
                broaden participation by enterprises
    <bullet>    improving the quality of regulation and the capacity of
                regulators to design and implement policies for sustainable
                growth
    <bullet>    reducing compliance costs and facilitating business growth
    <bullet>    building a favorable regional and international environment
                for free and fair competition
        In reconfirming our commitment to achieve the Bogor Goals of free
    and open trade and investment by 2010/2020, we endorse the attached APEC
    Principles to Enhance Competition and Regulatory Reform. These
    principles provide a core part of the framework for strengthening our
    markets which will better integrate individual and collective actions by
    APEC economies to achieve those goals.
        We accept Ministers' proposals for an initial work programme to
    strengthen markets. This gives priority to strengthening market
    infrastructure and human capacity in our economies and enterprises,
    especially in developing economies. It also calls for specific
    implementation strategies in areas such as natural gas and e-commerce.
    We call upon

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    the private sector, including the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)
    and the APEC Financiers' Group, to contribute to these efforts.
        We welcome and endorse the work of our Finance Ministers, and
    encourage their efforts to strengthen domestic financial markets and
    secure the foundation for the return of capital to the region by:
    <bullet>    enhanced supervision of financial markets, including through
                improved training of supervisors and regulators
    <bullet>    developing domestic bond markets based on the just published
                Compendium of Sound Practices
    <bullet>    developing and applying agreed corporate governance
                principles
        The alignment of the APEC Finance Ministers' process with the APEC
    Leaders' process offers new opportunities for cooperation. We instruct
    our Ministers to pursue greater links among APEC fora and their work
    programmes. We look forward to receiving a report from Finance Ministers
    of further progress in dealing with financial market issues when we next
    meet.
        We reaffirm that individual actions by economies are the principal
    means by which APEC's goal will be attained. We acknowledge that
    progress towards the Bogor Goals has been uneven, and undertake to
    continue concrete actions to fulfill our commitment. We also accept the
    views of ABAC and other business representatives who have called for
    action plans to be more specific, transparent and comprehensive, and
    welcome the initiative by Ministers to review and strengthen processes
    for individual and collective actions under the Oaska Action Agenda.
        APEC's trade facilitation programmes are already delivering
    substantial benefits--in customs harmonisation, standards and
    conformance, and increased mobility of business people. We welcome the
    agreed new initiatives, and instruct Ministers to give priority to this
    work next year, in consultation with business, and to better communicate
    the value of APEC's trade facilitation role.
        Enhanced economic and technical cooperation is essential if we are
    to lift our peoples into prosperity, and narrow the development gap
    among Asia/Pacific economies. The financial crisis has underlined the
    importance of cooperation in human and institutional capacity building,
    science and technology exchanges and development of infrastructure. We
    direct our Ministers to give special attention in the coming year to
    improving effective and coordinated delivery of APEC's Ecotech and
    capacity building programmes, in accordance with the Manila Declaration.
        We welcome Ministers' report on the APEC Food System proposed by the
    APEC Business Advisory Council, and endorse its recommendations on the
    development of rural infrastructure, dissemination of technological
    advances in food production and processing, and promotion of trade in
    food products. A robust regional food system that efficiently links food
    production, food processing and consumption, is a vital contribution to
    meeting the objectives of APEC. We instruct Ministers to implement the
    recommendations taking into account ABAC's submission this year, and
    monitor annually progress towards achieving the APEC Food System.
        We recognise the key role that electronic commerce will play in
    linking our economies. APEC must continue its efforts to create a
    favourable environment for e-commerce in cooperation with the private
    sector.
        In a little over 100 days, APEC economies will face the challenges
    and risks of the century date change. Intense activities in economies
    and throughout the region have lessened risks but more cooperative
    planning must occur. We recognise that global interdependence means we
    must continue our efforts to prepare, accelerate cross-border
    contingency planning, and enhance transparency about readiness as a
    matter of the highest priority. We adopt the APEC Y2K 100 Days
    Cooperation Initiative to intensify cooperation for responding to
    potential Y2K events. We agree to share information and expertise about
    Y2K impacts on critical infrastructures during and after the date
    change.

    APEC in the Global Economy

        APEC will continue to play a leadership role in strengthening the
    global economy, especially the multilateral trading system.
        Strong financial systems are fundamental to achieving robust, open
    and growing economies. We welcome the report from our Finance Ministers
    on developments in

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    strengthening the international finance architecture and are encouraged
    by the progress made. The establishment of the Financial Stability Forum
    and the new informal mechanism to enhance dialogue among the
    systematically important economies should advance cooperation on
    strengthening the international financial system. We support ongoing
    efforts to improve crisis prevention and crisis resolution, and urge
    prompt action to improve transparency of highly leveraged institutions.
    We also support the developing consensus on the need to ensure that
    reforms of the international financial system, and domestic financial
    markets, are mutually reinforcing. APEC's diverse membership provides a
    special contribution to discussions on domestic and international
    financial reforms. In respect of both the public and private sectors,
    APEC advocates:
    <bullet>    greater transparency and openness including improved
                reliability and timeliness of information
    <bullet>    clearer accountability for decisions and judgements
        This year, APEC has a unique opportunity to give impetus to
    deliberations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). We will give the
    strongest possible support at Seattle to the launch of a new Round of
    multilateral negotiations within the WTO, and endorse the positions
    adopted by Ministers. We recognise the need to build public confidence
    in this process and to improve coordination on trade related matters
    among relevant international organisations. We agree on the importance
    of ensuring full implementation of existing WTO agreements. We see
    continued growth in international trade and investment as the best means
    of achieving prosperity and security.
        In particular, we agree that the new Round should:
    <bullet>    include comprehensive market access negotiations covering
                industrial tariffs in addition to the already mandated
                negotiations on services and agriculture
    <bullet>    lead to timely and effective improvements in market access
                to the benefit of all participating economies, particularly
                developing economies and, consistent with this objective,
                provide scope to review and strengthen rules and disciplines
    <bullet>    have a balanced and sufficiently broad-based agenda and be
                concluded within three years as a single package which does
                not preclude the possibility of early results on a
                provisional basis
        We support, as one of the important objectives of the negotiations
    on agriculture, the abolition of agricultural export subsidies and
    unjustifiable export prohibitions and restrictions.
        We call on all WTO members to join us at Seattle in a commitment not
    to impose new or more restrictive trade measures for the duration of the
    negotiations, as applied during the Uruguay Round. We pledge not to
    impose any such measures before the Seattle WTO Ministerial meeting.
        Support for ongoing WTO negotiations will remain a key area of
    APEC's work throughout those negotiations. In particular we resolve to
    work actively in the negotiations to ensure that APEC and WTO are
    mutually reinforcing. To respond fully to the challenges and
    opportunities of today's interdependent world for the benefit of all our
    peoples and to avoid fragmentation of the international trading system,
    we need to ensure convergence between regional and multilateral
    liberalisation initiatives.
        In order to achieve universality of membership, we also seek early
    progress in the accession negotiations to the WTO, including for those
    APEC economies that are not yet WTO members. We issue a strong call for
    these accession negotiations to be concluded at the earliest
    opportunity, if possible prior to commencement of the new WTO
    negotiations.

    Participation in Prosperity

        As Leaders, we recognise our responsibilities to ensure full and
    successful participation by all of our populations in the modern
    economy. Technological change has irreversibly integrated global markets
    for goods and services, and finance. The effective development and
    application of knowledge will be a key driver of future economic
    success, and we pledge to ensure that APEC economies are to the
    forefront of building and sharing

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    their expertise in this vital sector. Cooperation in such fields as e-
    education, science and technology and life-long skills development
    should be strengthened. Globalisation must become an opportunity for
    all.
        We commit to ensuring that APEC takes a leading role in enabling
    developing economies to participate successfully in the global economy,
    through enhancing human and institutional capacities and progressively
    opening markets. We recognize that income and wealth disparities between
    and within economies can pose a challenge for social stability.
    Appropriate social safety nets play a role in facilitating economic and
    social adjustment. We welcome efforts by APEC economies, and other
    institutions, to address social safety net issues, and encourage further
    efforts to maintain employment and environmentally sustainable growth.
    In that regard, we welcome the outcomes of the Human Resources
    Development and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meetings. APEC
    economies will pursue enhanced dialogue and continue to seek policy
    approaches that encourage inclusion and economic advancement, as well as
    initiative and innovation.
        We welcome the Framework for the Integration of Women in APEC, which
    is a significant step to enhance the ability of women to contribute to
    and benefit from prosperity of the region. We shall review
    implementation of the Framework when we next meet.
        In 1999, we have enhanced opportunities for business, especially
    smaller enterprises, to make their views known in APEC. Those views are
    of keen interest to us. Further dialogue with the private sector, at all
    levels, is essential to maintain the dynamism and relevance of APEC. We
    also look to the private sector for support for reform.
        Once again, we welcome the recommendations from the APEC Business
    Advisory Council, ABAC, and thank members of the Council for their
    contribution in areas such as capacity building, finance, food, e-
    commerce and air services. We instruct Ministers to take the ABAC
    recommendations into account during their work in 2000. We support
    implementation of the eight steps for more competitive air services, and
    the identification of further steps to liberalise air services in
    accordance with the Bogor Goals. Tourism and air services have a large
    contribution to make to development and community building in the
    region.

    Conclusion

        As Leaders, we recognise that our role in APEC, as in our own
    economies, is to set the course which will allow for sustainable
    development and which will deliver a strong social dividend to their
    populations. We acknowledge that economic adjustments may be difficult,
    and that there is social cost which must be reduced. But we are united
    in our belief that the path to increased prosperity requires continual
    reform and adjustment of our policies and outlook. An open regional
    framework, within which competition and cooperation flourish, is the
    best means of building a prosperous future together. We embark on APEC's
    second decade confident that a deepening and enduring spirit of
    openness, partnership and community is being built. The challenge we
    collectively face is to maintain our momentum and deliver on our
    commitment. We accept the challenge.

    Note: This declaration was made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary but was not issued as a White House press release. An original
    was not available for verification of the content of this declaration.