Post on 14-Apr-2018
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APECEconomic andTechnical Cooperation
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Economic and Technical Cooperation
(ECOTECH) is aimed at ostering
sustainable and inclusive growth and
development in the Asia-Pacifc andimproving overall economic and social
well-being o all citizens living across
the APEC region. The agenda is based
on the view held frmly within APEC
that the gap between developing
and industrialized economies needs
to narrow i the regions uture growth
is to be secured.
Along with trade liberalization and business acilitation, ECOTECH is one o APECs three pillars.
ECOTECH ocuses on capacity building and inormation sharing, particularly in developing member
economies, to advance APECs goals o trade liberalization and sustainable, inclusive growth.
Capacity building is critical as APEC increasingly ocuses on next generation trade barriers. Helped
by APECs work over the last decade, taris, quotas and other trade barriers at the border have
declined. As a result, APEC has shited to address behind-the-border issues such as structural and
regulatory obstacles in individual member economies. To achieve these goals, ECOTECH capacity
building projects apply across all o APECs Committees and Working Groups.
By enhancing developing members capacity through skills training and technological know-how,
ECOTECH strengthens members readiness to adopt new trade acilitation initiatives rom electronic
customs processing to regulatory reorm and transparency.
Moreover, to promote balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth in the APEC region, ECOTECH
capacity building projects also include enhancing economic opportunities or women, small and
medium enterprise innovation, and energy and environmental sustainability.
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What is Asia-Pacifc Economic Cooperation (APEC)?
Asia-Pacifc Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is
the premier orum or acilitating economic growth,
cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacifcregion. It was established in 1989 to leverage the
growing interdependence o Asia-Pacifc economies.
APEC aims to create greater prosperity or the people
o the region by promoting balanced, inclusive,
sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by
accelerating regional economic integration.
APEC has 21 members - reerred to as Member
Economies - which account or 40 percent o the
worlds population, approximately 54 percent o worldGDP and about 44 percent o world trade.
APECs 21 Member Economies are Australia; Brunei
Darussalam; Canada; Chile; Peoples Republic o China;
Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic o Korea;
Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea;
Peru; The Republic o the Philippines; The Russian
Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United
States o America; Viet Nam.
APECs work in the Asia-Pacifc region ocuses on
three main areas: Trade and Investment Liberalization,
Business Facilitation and Economic and TechnicalCooperation (ECOTECH). Trade and investment
liberalization includes opening markets and reducing
tari and non-tari barriers. Since 1989, average taris
in the region have declined by around 70 percent in
2011. Business acilitation ocuses on reducing business
transaction costs especially or importers and exporters.
From 2007-2010, APEC reduced costs at the border by
5 percent, which saved businesses a total o USD 58.7
billion. Over time the APEC agenda has broadened toinclude a complementary ocus on behind-the-border
and across-the-border barriers. For example, APEC
is enhancing physical connectivity across-the-border
with the goal o achieving an APEC-wide 10 percent
improvement in supply-chain perormance in terms
o time, cost and uncertainty by 2015. Economic and
Technical Cooperation builds skills and knowledge
transer to assist all APEC members to participate in the
regional economy and reach the APEC goals o ree and
open trade and investment in the region.
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In 1996 in Manila, Ministers jointly adopted the
Declaration on an APEC Framework or Strengthening
Economic Cooperation and Development to assist
member economies implement the economic and
technical cooperation goals outlined in the Osaka
Action Agenda. The ocus was to assist developing
member economies meet the targeted goals o ree
trade and liberalization through a concerted capacity
building and training program. One o the guiding
principles is creating opportunities or knowledge
exchange between industrialized and developing
member economies.
The Senior Ocials Meeting (SOM) Steering
Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation
(SCE) coordinates APECs ECOTECH agenda
through a range o sectoral ocused working groups
rom energy to emergency preparedness. ECOTECH
capacity building projects are also carried out across
other APEC Committees and Working Groups.
In 2010, Senior Ocials endorsed a Framework
to Guide ECOTECH Activities or ECOTECH
capacity building projects and activities. Within
this ramework, ve areas have been identied as
ECOTECH priorities:
Regional economic integration
Addressing the social dimensions of globalization
(inclusive growth)
Safeguarding the quality of life through
sustainable growth
Structural reform
Human security
APEC implements its ECOTECH capacity building
goals by unding projects that include training
workshops, pilot projects and easibility studies
in a wide variety o areas. These could include
pilot projects to assist women-owned enterprises
participate in global supply chains or training
workshops on inormation technology to acilitate
member economies adoption o electronic single
window systems. ECOTECH projects are targeted at
building the capacity o policymakers, government
agencies and the private sector.
In 2011-12, a total o 74 ECOTECH-related projects
were implemented by the Senior Ocials Meeting
(SOM) Steering Committee on Economic and
Technical Cooperation (SCE). 32 APEC-funded
projects ocused on saeguarding quality o lie
through sustainable growth, 9 projects ocused on the
social dimension o globalization (inclusive growth),
21 on human security, 2 projects on structural reorm
and 9 projects on regional economic integration. In
addition, 9 cross-cutting ECOTECH projects were
implemented by other APEC Committees, including
the Committee on Trade and Investment, the
Economic Committee and Senior Finance Ocials
Meeting.
Regional Economic Integration Promotes convergences among member economies in key areas o APECs regional economic integration (REI)
agenda, including services, digital economy, investment, trade acilitation, rules o origin, supply chain connectivity, andstandards/technical barriers to trade. Explores building blocks towards a Free Trade Area o the Asia-Pacic.
Addressing the Social Dimension o Globalization
(Inclusive Growth)
Promotes Inclusive Growth including nancial inclusion, small and medium enterprise development, empowering
women, skills upgrading o workers, employment creation, and development o social saety net programs.
Saeguarding the Quality o Lie through Sus-
tainable Growth
Includes implementation o the Environmental Goods List to reduce taris on a set o environmental goods as well as
work on energy eciency and renewable energy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable orest
management and rehabilitation.
Structural Reorm Focuses on the Leaders Agenda to Implement Structural Reorm, includ ing corporate governance, regulatory reorm,
strengthening economic and legal inrastructure, competition policy and public sector governance. Other activities
include implementation o the Ease o Doing Business Action Plan, strengthening nancial markets, and actions thatsupport implementation o G-20 ramework or strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
Human Security Promotes ood security, ood and product saety and emergency preparedness in the event o a disaster.
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Indigenous women in remote rural communities
are oten unable to take advantage o the trade
opportunities that result rom the opening o
new global markets. They ace many barriers
including the absence o linkages to international
distributors, lack o education and awareness o
trade opportunities and product quality control.
As part o the ECOTECH priority to address the
social dimension o globalization and promote
inclusion o all segments o society in economic
growth, APECs Policy Partnership on Women
and the Economy launched a project to assist
indigenous women micro-enterprises access
global markets.
The APEC-unded Womens Micro-Enterprise
Trade Network worked with international
suppliers, producers, distributors and non-prot
community organizations to establish critical
on-the-ground activities to link women micro-
entrepreneurs in Chile, Peru, Chinese Taipei,
and, Viet Nam to new market opportunities
in Canada. The project engaged local non-
prot community groups to provide training
and outreach including the Mapuche women
enterprise and artisan crat association in
Chile, the QillaMaqi in Peru, and the Center or
Womens Development in Viet Nams Hill-tribe
communities.
As part of the Trade Network, over 300 products
made by indigenous women micro-enterprises
went through a ormal assessment to determine
their appeal and success potential in the
Canadian market. Ninety products were selected
or urther market testing at two trade shows in
Canada in December 2011. Through the trade
shows and other channels, the Trade Network
was able to identiy possible distributors and
buyers in Canada.
As a result o the APEC Trade Network pilot,
52 dierent indigenous women micro-enterprise
products were ordered and another 50 were
under consideration or uture purchase by
distributors. The Trade Network established
linkages between Canadian distributors and
indigenous women micro-enterprises in Chile,
Peru, Chinese Taipei and Viet Nam, acilitating
export trade. The Trade Network played a key
role by providing product aggregation, wholesale
and retail sector development, distribution,
development o specialty and niche markets,
and brand and trademark development. The
pilot project also oered best practices and a
proven concept or replicating in other APEC
economies.
The Trade Network established
linkages between Canadian
distributors and indigenous women
micro-enterprises in Chile, Peru,
Chinese Taipei and Viet Nam.
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Importers and exporters oten have to process
permits and orms through a variety o
government agencies, costing valuable time
and money. As part o APECs eorts to ease
the cost o business transactions and reduce
behind-the-border barriers, APEC launched
the Single Window Initiative in 2007, allowing
or standardized documents to be processed
electronically through a single entry point.
However, the absence o inormation technology
inrastructure and capacity in some membereconomies posed a challenge to widespread
adoption o the single window system.
A series o APEC-unded capacity building
workshops on single window systems was
launched by the Committee on Trade and
Investment rom 2007-2012. The workshops
assisted economies in developing their single
Six hundred million more people will be living
in cities in the Asia-Pacic region by 2035. Itsnot just a question o overcrowding as people
increasingly migrate rom the countryside to
urban areas. It raises concerns over trac
congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas
emissions and an overwhelming demand or
energy in the region. The Asia-Pacic Energy
Research Centre (APERC) predicts that the
regions carbon dioxide emissions rom uel
combustion are expected to increase by about
40 percent from 2005 to 2030 and oil imports
rom outside the APEC region are likely to rise
window systems by providing technical training
courses on sotware development such as UMM/UML coding language or building the single
window architecture as well as inormation
on standards and data harmonization. The
workshops also provided best practices on the
development, implementation and maintenance
o single window systems including IT and legal
issues. Training workshops are also ocusing on
the next phase to enable seamless data sharing
between APEC economies single windowsystems.
to around 70 percent. APEC is tackling these
environmental and energy challenges through
its Energy Working Group and as part o theECOTECH priority o saeguarding quality o lie
through sustainable growth.
To encourage low-carbon communities and
adoption o green technologies, APEC unded
a multi-year Low Carbon Model Town pilot
project in 2011. The Yujiapu Financial District
in China, about 40 kilometres east o Tianjin,
was selected to be the rst Low Carbon Model
Town. As part o the pilot project, a easibility
In 2007, six APEC economies embraced the
idea o a single window system. Very quickly,
the benet o this electronic single entry point
or processing orms was demonstrated. Enabled
by capacity building training workshops, more
member economies have adopted the single
window system. According to a 2012 survey,
14 out o the 21 APEC economies have now
introduced the single window system.
study was conducted by an international
consulting rm. The rm developed a plan or
the Yujiapu low-carbon town, including specictargets or CO2 emission reductions and other
measures o environmental sustainability. The
easibility study also provided guidelines o
how these targets might be achieved through
a specic selection o mitigation measures in
buildings, transportation, energy management
systems, area energy network, and renewable
energy as well as providing a cost analysis o
these potential measures.
Enabled by capacity building
training workshops, more member
economies have adopted the single
window system.
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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account
or around 90 percent o businesses in the APEC
region and employ as much as 60 percent of
the work orce. Yet they only generate around
30 percent of the regions exports. Since SMEs
are the backbone o the APEC economy, it
is critical to enhance the competitiveness o
this important sector. As part o ECOTECHs
priority to promote inclusive growth, the
Small and Medium Enterprise Working Group
creates initiatives to nurture the developmento SMEs and build their capacity to engage in
international trade.
In 2005, as part o the Daegu Initiative to
promote SME development, the Small and
Medium Enterprise Working Group established
the APEC SME Innovation Center in Korea.
Funded by Korea, the APEC SME Innovation
Center launched its Innovation Consulting
Program in 2009 to provide technical
Government ocials in Tianjin and urban
planners or the Yujiapu Financial District inChina now have a strategic plan or a low-carbon
town that will include electric vehicles and
subways instead o cars powered by ossil uels.
Roads and buildings will be lit by combined
operating systems o solar and wind energy,
and water treatment systems will do double
dutytreating water but also absorbing and
storing energy. The Tianjin Innovative Finance
Investment Co. Ltd is currently spearheading
the implementation and development o the
new Yujiapu low-carbon town.
and management advice to enhance SME
competitiveness. From 2009-2012, the APEC
SME Innovation Center provided consulting
services to 96 companies in 7 different APEC
economies rom Indonesia to Peru.
Remula Inti Rekayasa, an Indonesian
manuacturer o stainless steel tanks or use
in the ood and pharmaceutical industries, was
one o the companies that beneted rom APEC
SME Innovation Centers consulting program
in 2012. Companies like Coca Cola, Dong-A
Otsuka and Sanbe Farma are among its
customers. Ater conducting an initial diagnostic
assessment o the company, the APEC SME
Innovation Center consultants paid a ve-day
visit to Remula Inti Rekayasas production
acilities in Bekasi, West Java. The consultants
made recommendations to streamline the
companys manuacturing process and
workplace to enhance overall eciency. This
included rearranging machinery and equipment
This new town, once built, will serve as a
model or promoting the adoption o lowcarbon technologies in other Asia-Pacic cities.
Guidelines or the Low Carbon Model Town
concept have been developed and shared with
other APEC city planners. APECs Low Carbon
Town Project has also expanded to Samui
Island, Thailand (Phase II 2012) and Da Nang,
Viet Nam (Phase III 2013) and feasibility studies
are underway or developing low carbon towns
in these cities as well.
to improve the fow o materials throughout the
manuacturing process as well as developing a
system or managing the actorys tools. Remula
Inti Rekayasa is currently implementing these
recommendations. The consulting services
have helped enhance the companys workfow
and inventory management. The APEC SME
Innovation Centers consulting program is
helping build the capacity o SMEs in the Asia-
Pacic region one company at a time.
From 2009-2012, the APEC
SME Innovation Center provided
consulting services to 96
companies in 7 dierent APECeconomies.
The rm developed a plan or the
Yujiapu low-carbon town, includingspecic targets or CO2 emission
reductions and other measures o
environmental sustainability.
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For general inormation about APEC, please contact
APEC Secretariat 35 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119616
Telephone Number: (65) 6775 6012 Facsimile Number: (65) 6775 6013 Website: www.apec.org
For general queries, eedback or comments, contact: ino@apec.org
For media queries, contact: media@apec.org
Inquiries can also be directed to contacts in APEC Member Economies. A complete list o these contacts isavailable on the APEC website or by contacting the APEC Secretariat directly.
ISBN978-981-07-6708-2 APEC#213-SE-05.2
General inormation can be ound at the APEC
website, , which eatures news
releases, APEC reports, and the APEC Bulletin.
Inormation about APECs ECOTECH capacity building projects and activities is available via the
APEC Senior Ofcials Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) at
Meeting documents rom the Committee and its various working groups can be ound at
Additionally, the APEC Bulletin provides highlights o APEC ECOTECH projects and how they have
benefted the APEC community.
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