SCE Chair’s Report

SOM Steering Committee on ECOTECH - Committee of the Whole

Meeting (SCE-COW)

Fourth Meeting

9:00 - 12:30 18 February 2009

Singapore

The fourth SCE – Committee of the Whole (SCE-COW) meeting was held in Singapore on 18 February, 2009. It was attended by representatives from Australia; Canada; Chile; China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Peru; Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the United States, and Viet Nam. It was also attended by representatives from the Fisheries Working Group (FWG), Human Resource Development (HRDWG), Marine Resource Conservation (MRCWG), Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEWG), Telecommunications and information (TELWG), the Anti-Corruption Taskforce (ACT), the Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN), the Taskforce on Emergency Preparedness (TFEP), and the Counterterrorism Taskforce (CTTF). Representatives from Finance Ministers Process (FMP) and the APEC Secretariat also attended.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu, APEC Senior Official for Japan, Deputy Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

1.  Welcome by the SCE Chair, Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu

The SCE Chair welcomed all members, Lead Shepherds and Chairs to the fourth SCE-COW meeting. He briefed the meeting on the 2009 APEC priorities which was discussed at the Senior Officials’ meeting. The SCE Chair also underlined the importance of reforming and strengthening SCE policy role and that in 2009, SCE would continue this work with the aim to develop a framework to guide ECOTECH activities. The meeting was informed that SOM Chair was not able to attend the meeting.

2.  Adoption of Agenda

The SCE-COW adopted the meeting agenda (Doc. 2009/SOM1/SCE-COW/001) without amendment.

3.  Reforming SCE Policy Agenda

3.1. Outcomes of the stocktaking on capacity building activities in APEC

SCE Chair briefed the meeting on the outcomes of the stocktake on capacity building activities in APEC. He noted that all 16 working groups/task forces had submitted their inputs for the stocktake and that the Secretariat had collated all the information received into meeting document 2009/SOM1/SCE-COW/002 (inputs from ATCWG and ACT to be included at a later date). The next step to be taken is, based on this stocktake, to identify the gaps and the needs of capacity building so as to inform a forward-looking, comprehensive ECOTECH workplan for APEC. He also noted that since the quality of inputs is various, he and the Secretariat would need to work with fora to make sure that all necessary information is collected.

To facilitate the review process, the Chair proposed that SCE undertake another survey on capacity building needs among developing economies, which is expected to complement the current subfora stocktake. This is because the needs and priorities of subfora may not necessarily reflect the actual needs and priorities of developing economies. Given the limited resources available, the ECOTECH activities in the future should be clearly focused on the areas which directly contribute to APEC’s core work, including the achievement towards Bogor Goal in 2020. It was also stressed that by no means there was a guarantee that all the capacity building needs of developing economies will be implemented in the future.

The meeting agreed that members would further review the proposed survey templates intersessionally and once the templates are agreeable by SCE, the Chair would write to request all developing members of the SCE for their input. The deadline for submission of survey will be 20 April 2009. Based on the information drawn from these two exercises, the Chair will work with the Secretariat to compile a comprehensive list of APEC’s capacity building needs. The list is to be tabled for discussion at SCE2. The 2009 SCE Workplan will be revised to include the survey.

3.2. Discuss on strengthening economic and technical cooperation in APEC (coordination among committees and fora, multi-year project proposal, joint project proposal, engagement with multilateral organisations and private sector)

SCE-COW had a fruitful discussion on how to strengthen economic and technical cooperation in APEC including coordination among committees and fora, engagement with multilateral organisations and private sector. Main points of discussion at the meeting are as follows:

The US commented that the stocktake reveals that there is much room for improvement in areas such as communication among fora, and collaboration with ABAC and private sector. SCE should recommend APEC fora to enhance their cooperation with other fora as well as their engagement with multilateral organisations, ABAC and private sector. Philippines commented that ECOTECH activities should be understood as a win-win case for APEC and that gender consideration should be an integral part of human resources development. Indonesia suggested that more cooperation/cross-cutting engagement among CTI sub-fora, EC and SCE was needed. Capacity building activities are not limited to just SCE, hence, it’s important to have a holistic approach for comprehensive coordination between SCE and other fora. Japan suggested that APEC should have a strategic approach in its collaboration with MOs and that focus must be put on priority issues in the engagement with ABAC. Malaysia proposed collaboration with MOs to be a permanent issue for project consideration. China stated that it saw no necessity either to revise the current guideline of non-member participation or to set up central contact points with MOs. China was of the view that the recommendation to set up contact points with MOs gives more questions than answers as it provides no clear explanation on procedure, responsibility and the relation between contact points and the Secretariat. It’s sufficient to just enhance the current role of PDs. Chinese Taipei emphasized the importance of closer engagement with ABAC. Australia suggested that SCE should sharpen and strengthen its priorities to provide clear guidance to fora and the Secretariat.

The FWG Lead Shepherd shared with the meeting the group’s experience in engaging with multilateral organisations. She also noted that CSR requirement has shifted the burden of proof, and that different certificate requirements (i.e. proof of sustainability and traceability) have made it more difficult for companies to access export markets. FWG Lead Shepherd informed the meeting that the current version of the group’s input to the stocktake was not complete and the group would revise and resubmit the template to the SCE. HRDWG Lead Shepherd commended the Policy Dialogue as very useful for it helped to identify areas of common interest where APEC and MOs can work together. He commented that (a) currently it’s hard to implement multi-year projects in APEC and a portion of APEC fund may need to be reserved for this purpose and (b) it’s important to have consistent set of priorities for fora to plan their activities and some flexibility should be given to fora to react to emergency such as the current economic crisis.

3.3  Initiative on “Strengthening APEC's Engagement with ABAC”

The US briefed the meeting on its initiative to strengthen APEC’s engagement with ABAC (Doc. 2009/SOM1/SCE-COW/004). The outcomes of the stocktake revealed that more work need to be done with ABAC. The US proposed to conduct outreach with the SCE-related fora Chairs/Lead Shepherds to address this subject. This is not exhaustive exercise. The objective is to gather additional information on what does and does not work in the relationship between APEC groups and ABAC and solicit views of APEC groups, member economies, ABAC, and the APEC Secretariat on specific policies/procedures that could be put into place to strengthen APEC’s engagement with ABAC. The information gathered would be analyzed to develop a set of policies and procedures.

The proposal was strongly supported by member economies. Philippines reminded the meeting that in 1996, Leaders already saw the need for closer cooperation with ABAC and that ABAC could play an important role in labour and social protection. Hong Kong, China commented that ABAC priority for capacity building may not always reflect the priorities of Leaders and Ministers and interests of both sides should be taken into account. However, being government officials, members should follow the instructions and priorities of Leaders and Ministers in their work. Indonesia suggested that the survey be circulated also to CTI subfora. Chair of ACT welcomed the proposal and informed the meeting that ABAC would attend the coming ACT meeting to see what role they can play in PPP for anti-corruption.

The meeting endorsed the US proposal with a slight modification on the timeline. The SCE Chair will work with the US to proceed with the survey.

4. Working Groups/Task Force 2009 Workplan

Representatives of FWG, HRDWG, MRCWG, TELWG, SMEWG, TPTWG, ACT, CTTF, TFEP and GFPN presented the workplan of their respective groups. The meeting agreed to endorse the workplans of the above mentioned fora and of EWG, ISTWG, MTF (Doc. 2009/SOM1/SCE-COW/005 – 016, 019). The meeting was informed by the Secretariat that TWG and ATCWG would submit their workplans for intersessional approval. SCE Chair will write to all working groups and taskforces to inform them of the outcomes of the SCE-COW meeting.

The meeting noted that SMEWG 27 meeting would not be organised in April as originally scheduled due to unexpected circumstances in Thailand. The meeting thanked Singapore for the offer to host this meeting in July 2009. The US proposed that SCE should look at the issue of meeting schedule to avoid similar cases in the future.

5. Twinning arrangement in APEC

Australia briefed the meeting on its pilot project to kick start twinning in APEC. The project concept was designed to support the development of a diversified and sound institutional investor base through targeted work placements. It will also involve bilateral and multilateral work placement. In this project, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will offer to host finance sector policy officers from an economy such as Vietnam, while the Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC), the training arm of Securities Commission, Malaysia, will offer to host officers from the finance ministries and related agencies of economies such as China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Australia will fund and assist with the implementation of this project. Lessons learned from the development and implementation of the project will be made available to SCE members and APEC fora upon its completion. Australia also informed that it was considering a project to promote stakeholder education and dialogue in relation to the regulation of mining sector activities and the removal of barriers to trade and investment in this sector. The project could involve a partnership between relevant APEC fora, governments, academia and industry, taking part in joint activities such as seminars, study visits, action planning and work placements. Australia would welcome input to this proposal.

The project was supported by the meeting. The US commended the work done by Australia and suggested Australia to work with MTF to develop a mining project. Korea commented that twinning may be a useful tool to carry out more staff exchange between MOs and APEC. Indonesia would look forward to more information about the implementation of this pilot project in order to improve its own projects. In response to Malaysia’s concern about the lack of participation from developed economies Australia emphasized that successful twinning can also be implemented between developing economies. Thailand suggested that issues like trade and environment, trade and labour, trade and finance be considered in the context of twinning.

The meeting endorsed the project proposal submitted by Australia (Doc.2009/SOM1/SCE-COW/017).

6. Other Business

APEC Secretariat briefed the meeting on its communication activities for the year 2009 which are aimed at complementing the work of fora and host economy. The meeting discussed how to improve outreach activities and to redesign APEC website to better serve the interest of business people. APEC Secretariat also informed the meeting about the reform of APEC project management and transition period.

The meeting noted 2009 APEC Secretariat Report on APEC Development (Doc.2009/SOM1/SCE-COW/018).

Document access – the meeting approved the classification of all meeting documents as listed in Doc. 2009/SOM1/SCE-COW/000.