APEC Peru 2008
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 Australia
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 People's Republic of China
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The APEC Peru 2008 summit
Summit (meeting)
A summit meeting is a meeting of heads of state or government, usually with considerable media exposure, tight security and a prearranged agenda.Notable summit meetings include those of Franklin D...
was the twentieth annual gather of APEC leaders. The meet was primarily a series of political-economic meetings, which were held in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
between the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries that seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region...
(APEC), although business leaders of the region also met before the summit officially began. Leaders from all the member countries met from November 22 to the 23 2008 in the capital city of Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
.
The 21-members account for 60 percent of the world's gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
.
Peruvian history in APEC
Peru has been a full member of APEC since 1998. Its participation began when Malaysia hosted the forum's summit in Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
.
Expansion
Since 2004, ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
have been expecting to join APEC when Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
hosts the meeting, but in APEC Australia 2007
APEC Australia 2007
APEC Australia 2007 was a series of political meetings held around Australia between the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation during 2007...
, the leaders agreed not to allow any more members until 2010.
Logo
The logo for the APEC Peru 2008 summit was created by the advertising designer Nilton García Tejada, who, in 2004, won a contest convened by the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to design a logo identifing Peru's chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum for 2008.The logo blends a strong sense of modernity and history. The red and white colours represent the colours of the national flag of Peru, while the mysterious shapes are supposed to represent Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for...
, a UNESCO World Heritage site and also recognized as humankind's cultural heritage as well as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World
New Seven Wonders of the World
New7Wonders of the World was an initiative started in 2001 by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation to choose Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. A popularity poll was led by Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber and organized by the New7Wonders Foundation based in...
.
Theme
The Presidency of Peru, as host of the summit, chose to dedicate the meet to "A new commitment to Asia-Pacific Development." In order to foster such commitment, APEC hopes to integrate various sectors of society in meeting its goals, public and private sectors (PPP), civil society and international financial institutions (IFI). Additional focal points include the development of individuals and the economy as well as devising a cohesive plan to address regional issues including energy security, personal security, climate change and sustainable economic growth.Other issues under discussion also include: corporate social responsibility, trade liberalization and the financial crisis, Investment "which aims to establish measures in order to provide greater economic integration and free trade among the Economies", anti-corruption and transparency
Transparency (social)
Transparency is a general quality. It is implemented by a set of policies, practices and procedures that allow citizens to have accessibility, usability, utility, understandability, informativeness and auditability of information and process held by centers of authority...
, climate change issues and new ways to reduce risks regarding environmental matters, regional economic integration, Doha Round
Doha round
The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda is the current trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization which commenced in November 2001. Its objective is to lower trade barriers around the world, which will help facilitate the increase of global trade...
support, APEC Reform, structural reform, food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
, economic and technical cooperation, and global economic issues and human security.
Goals
According to an official from the host country, it was expected that the leaders of the regional economies would issue a call against protectionismProtectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
and back free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
, despite the global financial crisis. Prior to the meeting of the national leaders, some 800 business leaders had gathered in Peru for commercial discussions. Senior officials also met behind closed doors to lay out the agenda for the weekend summit. Peru's deputy foreign minister, Gonzalo Gutierrez, said of the meeting before the leaders gathered that "The main theme we followed in this ... meeting is that we should avoid at any cost protectionism."
Senior officials sought to use the meeting to follow up on the previous week's G20 meeting in Washington, D.C. In warning against "protectionism" the host country's Foreign Minister, José García Belaúnde, said that "We reaffirm our opposition to trade and investment barriers. We've [instead] decided to continue supporting the multilateral trade system, including the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
, and to support a conclusion to the Doha trade round
Doha round
The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda is the current trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization which commenced in November 2001. Its objective is to lower trade barriers around the world, which will help facilitate the increase of global trade...
.
APEC trade and foreign ministers issued a statement before the meeting saying "We are in the most difficult set of economic conditions we have seen since APEC was created in 1989. All APEC economies are being affected by the global financial crisis and we are likely to experience a significant fall in the high rates of regional growth seen over the past decade."
US President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
also set his hopes on leaders of the summit to back the G20 declaration
2008 G-20 Washington summit
The 2008 G-20 Washington Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy took place on November 14–15, 2008, in Washington, D.C., United States. It achieved general agreement amongst the G-20 on how to cooperate in key areas so as to strengthen economic growth, deal with the financial...
to the international economic meltdown. He also hoped to foster closer trade ties among the group's 21 members.
Bush's assistant for international economic affairs, Dan Price, said that "I will say that certainly one of our priorities ... would seek to broaden the support for that declaration by having it endorsed by the other members of APEC." He, however, refused to build up talk of such affirmation, "I don't want to pre-judge what it is they will do." Only 9 APEC members were at the previous Washington summit, but as Bush was on his last summit in South America he sought to enlist more states in the battle against a global financial crisis that threatens to pull the global economy into a more severe economic recession.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
targeted an expectation that free trade could be the antidote the global economic crisis running at the time, as he too sought to get a support for some sort of a free trade agreement, either informally declaration or formal entreaties. His Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon, PC is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. On October 30, 2008 he was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs...
, supported the APEC as a follow to get a consensus on actions from Washington a week earlier, "My colleagues as well as myself recognize the importance of this particular moment of time, the importance of being able to follow up on the Washington declaration. The president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Tom d'Aquino, also wanted the APEC leaders to push hard to keep markets open. "The worst thing in the world at a time of great difficulty would be if people would try to build up barriers and fortresses against direct foreign investment or the openness of international trade." Moreover, APEC countries were expected to sign on to the G20 action plan's 47-point strategy that endorsed new safeguards for the global financial system.
The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
sought to push for his plan to have a European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
-style forum in the Asia-Pacific region. Rudd's long-term vision was to see a new Asia-Pacific grouping to address the regional economic, security and political challenges. In order to this he wanted to see the establishment of a trading bloc that would include such "powerhouse economies" as that of the United States, China and Japan, although he played down a great overhaul by keenly stressing that such a new union would not be a substitute for any current organization including the ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated ASEAN rarely ), is a geo-political and economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has...
. "Our ambition remains to create an Asia-Pacific community by 2020 that brings together the United States, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and the other countries of the region, with a broad agenda to deal with the political, economic and security challenges of the future. As we know, no such body in the region does that at present."
Other pre-summit reactions
Additionally, New Zealand's prime minister-elect, John KeyJohn Key
John Phillip Key is the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand, in office since 2008. He has led the New Zealand National Party since 2006....
, also added that he wanted to see an unusually fast-track swearing-in process as he was also keen to start of his tenure as a premier and attend the regional summit that would see the leaders of other global majors in the United States, China and Russia, amongst others, in attendance.
Summit weekend
After the first day of talks heads of state issued a statement pledging to push forward on global trade talks and to reform global lending institutions so as to keep the world from sliding into a recessionRecession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
. They also said they would refrain from raising new barriers to investment or trade over the next 12 months. The statement, however, was read in the nonbinding capacity it had and was further devalued as it largely echoed the same conclusions Washington meeting, D.C., a week ago.
The summit concluded with a declaration to step up to the plate and affirm measured to deal with the global economic crisis.
PRC and Taiwan
Former Taiwan premier Lien ChanLien Chan
Lien Chan is a politician in Taiwan. He was Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and was the Chairman of the Kuomintang from 2000 to 2005...
met with PRC leader Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
for about 40 minutes at a hotel in Lima, Peru. Officials in Taiwan's summit delegation called it the highest-level meeting in an international setting since 1949. This came just weeks after PRC envoy Chen Yunlin
Chen Yunlin
Chen Yunlin is the current chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits , the body responsible for negotiations with Taiwan in the People's Republic of China.-Biography:...
visited Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Russia–United States
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
. Bush talked about the meeting adding that "It's an interesting moment because I've had a lot of meetings with Dmitry and Vladimir Putin. This will be my last meeting as the sitting president with the leader of Russia. We've had our agreements. We have had our disagreements. I've tried to work hard to make it a cordial relationship so when we need to work together we can, and when we disagree we're able to do so in a way that is respectful to our two nations." Medvedev added that "Generally, despite the existence of points in which we strongly differ, we have worked well and will continue this work."
Their discussion included the Georgia conflict
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
and missile defence to Iran's nuclear program. The two also agreed to explore a joint strategy towards the bout of piracy off the Horn of Africa
Piracy in Somalia
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century...
. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov concluded that "The meeting went in a very good atmosphere, with both leaders understanding the importance of relations between the two countries. There was a clear desire not to get obsessed with differences." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino
Dana Perino
Dana Maria Perino is an American political commentator for Fox News. She served as the White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007 to January 20, 2009...
also added that "President Bush and President Medvedev had a cordial, but honest and direct exchange. They discussed a variety of issues, including our differences on Georgia, which continue."
Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong
In discussing the repercussion of the global economic crisis Hong Kong's leader, Donald TsangDonald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, GBM, KBE is the current Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Government of Hong Kong....
, joined other leaders in signalling that there is a need to "Strengthening global free trade and investment: which should be keys priorities?" He also stressed the need to support the WTO in order to achieve global trade liberalization in order to stop poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, as he added that "The world is convulsed, but we should have a bit of calmness and peace of mind. It´s time to share experiences and knowledge to build a more coordinated economy." Canada's Harper asked "How does financial crisis affects the APEC agenda: is it necessary to re-think the priorities?" In response he answered that "Direct governments involvement in bank regulation, instead of banks led by governments, is the solution for the financial crisis." Mexico's Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
talked about the errors made in the lead up the current fiasco as he talked about structural reforms that Mexico had carried out in the past year. He added that "Free trade generates public welfare: the market solution and no problem in this crisis;" he then highlighted the growth of economies like China and Peru as he declared "this is where opportunities are."
Post-summit conclusions
Colombia reiterated an interest to be included as a full member of APEC in the future. The country's president, Álvaro UribeÁlvaro Uribe
Alvaro Uribe Vélez was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid....
, emphasized the virtues and achievements of Colombia as he also ensured an "absolute respect for private investment."
A declaration by APEC leaders showed a commitment with free markets and an openness of the economy, while they also refrained from raising new barriers to investment or trade in goods and services over the next 12 months.
They addressed the issue of the financial crisis saying they had "already taken urgent and extraordinary actions [while stressing that they would take] "such actions and will continue to work closely coordinated and integrated to implement further actions to help us deal with this crisis." The Lima Declaration thus proposed concrete measures, such as the regulation and supervision of financial systems, as well as the need to develop more effective standards of corporate administration, with Corporate Social Responsibility. They also supported the Washington Declaration
Washington Declaration
Various documents are known as the Washington Declaration:* 1918, proclaiming the First Czechoslovak Republic* 1994, agreement formally ending the 46-year state of war between Jordan and Israel...
signed by the Group of 20.
Additionally, they also supported the "Action Plan" for the reform of financial markets proposed at the summit. In such manner there was need for "a close macroeconomic cooperation, avoid negative surplus, to support emerging economies and developing countries, and reflect and strengthen the International Financial Institutions." All in all the declaration supported the firm conviction that "the principles of free trade and investment rules and open trade will continue to guide global growth, job creation and poverty reduction."