For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 21, 2001
APEC Accomplishments
U.S. Accomplishments APEC Leaders' Meeting
President Bush challenged the other APEC Leaders to seize the
opportunity in the wake of the terrible events of September 11 to unite
in our common fight against terrorism and to reinvigorate efforts to
realize APEC's vision of free, open, and prosperous economies.
To achieve these ends, President Bush and the other APEC Leaders
agreed to action in three key areas: pledging cooperation on
counterterrorism, responding to the global economic slowdown by
reinvigorating trade, and building capacity to support sustained
growth.
Advancing Cooperation on Counterterrorism
-- Counterterrorism: President Bush has called for all states to
join a sustained worldwide coalition to defeat global terrorism. APEC
Leaders responded with a statement condemning in the strongest terms
the terrorist attacks in the United States as a "profound threat to the
peace, prosperity, and security of all people, of all faiths, of all
nations." The statement -- a significant show of unity by economies
representing 60 percent of world GDP and one quarter of the world's
Muslim population -- commits APEC members to implement relevant UN
conventions and resolutions, including those aimed at cutting off
financing for terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida. The APEC Leaders also
committed to specific steps to stop the flow of funds to terrorists,
ensure aviation and maritime security, strengthen energy security, and
enhance border security and customs enforcement.
Responding to the Global Slowdown though Increased Trade
-- New Trade Round: President Bush believes that one of the most
important things we can do to reignite global growth is to expand world
trade. Thus he and the other APEC Leaders pledged to strongly support
the launch of a new round of global trade negotiations in November.
-- Shanghai Accord: The U.S. proposed the Shanghai Accord to focus
APEC's work in its second decade on implementing APEC's vision of free
trade and investment. The Shanghai Accord calls for a cut in trade
transaction costs by 5 percent over five years, more rigorous reviews
of APEC members' trade liberalization plans, greater government
transparency, trade policies to encourage development of the New
Economy, and creation of "Pathfinder" initiatives allowing subgroups of
APEC members to move ahead of others.
-- E-APEC Strategy: Under the joint leadership of the U.S., China
and Australia, APEC has issued the e-APEC Strategy, a roadmap for
achieving a digital society. It identifies concrete actions in three
key areas for ensuring the growth of the New Economy: sound
macroeconomic and structural policies, legal and regulatory regimes to
spur innovation and investment, and education and training.
Building Capacity for Sustained Growth
-- Economic and Technical Cooperation: President Bush joined APEC
Leaders in pledging to enhance economic and technical assistance
(Ecotech) to support members' efforts to liberalize trade. The U.S.
Ecotech Action Plan of "best practice' projects includes more than 65
ongoing and proposed projects from the public and private sectors,
ranging from training customs officials through the Shanghai Model Port
Project to supporting programs to improve teacher training. The U.S.
also funds the APEC Ecotech Clearinghouse, a web-based compendium of
Ecotech activities in APEC.
-- E-Learning: One of President Bush's priorities is using
information and communications technology (ICT) to support teacher
training and promote higher educational standards. In APEC, the U.S. is
spearheading a number of such programs, including the APEC Cyber
Education Cooperation project, which has developed a knowledge bank of
best education practices, and the e-Language Learning Project to teach
foreign languages over the Internet.
-- Promotion of Biotechnology: President Bush believes the world
must utilize the enormous potential of biotechnology to end hunger.
Biotechnology can help developing economies increase crop yields, while
using fewer pesticides and less water than conventional methods. APEC
Leaders agreed to endorse a U.S.-proposed high-level policy dialogue on
biotechnology.
-- Infectious Diseases: President Bush has led the effort to raise
the profile and urgency of cooperation on infectious diseases by being
the first to pledge support for the global fund to fight HIV/AIDS,
malaria, and tuberculosis that the G-8 launched at the Genoa Summit in
July. APEC Leaders agreed to link existing disease surveillance
networks to better track outbreaks and make prevention efforts more
effective. The U.S. contributes nearly $1 billion annually to
international efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and other infectious
diseases.
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