06_ecsg1_002_APEC Sec Report on APEC Developments to the ECSG

___________________________________________________________________________ 2006/SOM1/ECSG/002 Agenda Item: II a. 2006 APEC Secretariat Report on APEC Developments Purpose: Information Submitted by: APEC Secretariat Electronic Commerce Steering Group Meeting Ha Noi, Viet Nam 23-24 February 2006 2006 APEC Secretariat Report on APEC Developments (SOM I and related meetings 20 February- 2 March 2006) Highlights of note to APEC fora in 2006: - The work of APEC in 2006 is guided by the theme “Towards a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity”. To give a strong impetus to this theme, four sub-themes and seven priorities have been proposed to show key areas in which APEC needs to focus its efforts in 2006. - As implementation of the Busan Roadmap towards the Bogor Goal begins this year, APEC fora are encouraged to develop and implement work plans in accordance with the Busan Roadmap as well as this year‟s priorities in an effective, well-coordinated and focused manner. - ECOTECH has been strengthened and restructured into the SCE. Its enhanced mandate is to undertake a coordinating function and to rank project proposals of Working Groups (WGs) by priority while evaluating their progress. - As required by relevant committees and senior officials, APEC fora should be prepared to develop and/or review their terms of reference with a view to rationalizing their activities in accordance with APEC goals - APEC fora are encouraged to cooperate with the EC to take on the crosscutting issue of structural reform in line with latter‟s newly approved „APEC Work Plan on LAISR towards 2010‟ („LAISR 2010‟) with an aim to develop a “whole of APEC” approach for carrying out structural reform activities. - APEC fora are encouraged to actively join the APEC Information Management Portal which will be ready by March. - APEC fora need to recognize the new status of ABAC which has been approved as an official participant in APEC fora. This is to acknowledge the growing collaborative relationship between APEC and ABAC, and to encourage fora to welcome ABAC participation and input. - APEC fora are encouraged to join in translating the newly-approved Framework for the Integration of Women into concrete action. - APEC fora are reminded that all TILF Special Account projects can now commence from 1 January each year (or their date of approval if later). Project Overseers should also contact the Secretariat on a regular basis, at least once every two months for the duration of the project. - Following the APEC Secretariat‟s circulation of details of all direct labour contracts above US$50,000 to all points of contact of the relevant forum and on its website, APEC fora are encouraged to help bring in more competitive proposals by actively passing these details to possible contractors in member economies. - Project Overseers are reminded of the need to give adequate time (at least four weeks before the meeting) to identify participants and speakers being funded to attend workshops. It can take several weeks to process their travel and for them to obtain visas, particularly if they have to transit the United States or Canada. 2 - On 2006 Urgent projects, assuming intersessional approval of some urgent projects for early implementation in 2006, the next BMC will be able to consider funding of Operational Account projects to the value of US$476,195 and TILF Special Account projects to the value of US$1,449,047. Please note that there will likely be strong competition for funding for all projects. Assuming intersessional approval of HTF 02/2006A there will be effectively no more funding available from the ASF until the expected additional funds for 2006 are received. - Project overseers are reminded that each project should include a statement on the urgency; this should be related to the criteria set out in paragraph 2.8 of the Guidebook on APEC Projects (6th edition). Budgets should be carefully scrutinised to ensure that no more than necessary funding is requested; an element of self-funding would likely enhance the possibility of approval, particularly for ASF and TILF projects. - For funding under the TILF Special Account, careful attention must be provided to the TILF linkage; around 20% of funding for TILF projects from developing economies should be self-funded; for developed economies this should be around 50%. [Economies which contribute to the TILF fund are exempt from these requirements] - Projects for funding under the Operational Account or the APEC Support Fund should be accompanied by a completed QAF. All projects, whether for Operational or TILF Special Account funding, put forward should have the active involvement of at least three economies – as proposing / co-sponsoring economy. - The APEC Secretariat must receive all finalised and ranked proposals for consideration at BMC I by Monday 13 March 2006. There will be no extensions to this time as BMC requires sufficient time to consider in their entirety all proposals ahead of BMC I. - On 2007 Projects, at BMC I Members will recommend to SOM II an Affordable Limit of Expenditure for 2006 TILF projects. It is likely that the 2006 TILF funding for 2007 projects will be less than that in previous years. 2007 projects will be considered at BMC 2, scheduled for 10 – 12 October 2006. (SCE3 will consider the ranking of the Operational and ASF projects at its meeting in September 2006.) - On project evaluation, in addition to applying the Quality Assessment Framework (QAF), from 2006, the other two frameworks; the framework for a health check for on-going projects and the framework for the evaluation of completed projects are ready for use for projects under the Operational Account and the APEC Support Fund. - APEC fora are reminded of providing, whenever possible, necessary information relating to the APEC website, outreach, promotional materials, experts register, media support, APEC E-Newsletter, Business Outreach, Use of APEC Logo, Publications and APEC Website, and meeting documentation. 3 OVERVIEW The APEC 2005 Year marked an important milestone in APEC with the launch of the Busan Roadmap and important progress made in all key areas: trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, human security, economic and technical cooperation and APEC reform. The Mid-term stocktake confirmed that APEC members are well on track to achieve the Bogor goals. Around 200 APEC-funded projects were in progress. The financial basis has also been expanded with the establishment of the APEC Support Fund (ASF), a timely and important complement to the TILF and Operational Funds. The ESC has been restructured into the SCE with a view to empowering this body to live up to the task of providing greater and better quality capacity building and technical assistance to member economies. It will complement the increasing number of trade and investment liberalization programmes. In 2006, the work of APEC is guided by the theme “Towards a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity”. As the host of 2006, Viet Nam intends to highlight the development dimension of trade and investment liberalization in APEC. 2005 DEVELOPMENTS In November 2005 in Busan, Korea the 17th APEC Ministerial Meeting (17th AMM) and the 13th APEC Economic Leaders‟ Meeting (13th AELM) agreed to a host of new initiatives aimed at reinforcing ongoing work to promote free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC 2006 Viet Nam The theme for the APEC 2006 Year is “Towards a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity”. With this theme, as host of APEC 2006, Viet Nam is committed to navigating APEC‟s free and open trade and investment in the direction of sustainable development and prosperity for all members. To give a strong impetus to this theme, four sub-themes were proposed to indicate key areas where APEC needs to focus its efforts in 2006. These are Sub-theme 1: “Enhance Trade and Investment with the Busan Roadmap and Doha Development Agenda” Sub-theme 2: “Strengthen Economic and Technical Cooperation for Gap Bridging and Sustainable Development” Sub-theme 3: “Improve Secure and Favourable Business Environment” Sub-theme 4: “Promote Community Linkages” In conjunction with theme and four sub-themes, members have identified the following priorities: 1. Promote APEC Cooperation to Enhance Trade and Investment: APEC will do their best to promote development through trade and investment and to ensure the successful conclusion of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and effective implementation of the Busan Roadmap. 4 2. Enhance Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises : To improve the competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the context of globalization, APEC will help them benefit from favourable market access, new technologies and improved skills, access to basic resources and simplified business regulations and related administrative procedures. 3. Promote Integration Capacity through Human Resources Development, IT cooperation, and Partnership for Development: To facilitate the effective integration of Member Economies into the world economy and narrow the development gap among them, APEC will deliver improved capacity building initiatives to enhance cooperation in human resource development, knowledge-based economy, information technology and build partnerships for development. 4. Enhance Human Security: Counter Terrorism, Health Security, Disaster Preparedness and Energy Security: Enhanced preparedness rebuff all kinds of terrorist acts, natural disasters, emerging avian and pandemic influenza will definitely help minimize consequences, thus facilitating a more secure environment for people and businesses to live and work in. Add ional measures should be taken to respond to oil price volatility and energy supply disruptions. 5. Promote Anti-corruption and Transparency: APEC members need to further enhance their concerted efforts in curbing corruption by, among others, enhancing transparency, fine-tuning the legal system and law enforcement to minimize any room for corruption. Public-private partnership against corruption is to be emphasized 6. Connect APEC Economies through Tourism and Cultural exchange To improve mutual understanding and cultivate a greater sense of community between people from varied cultures, APEC will enhance connectivity among its member economies by facilitating cultural exchange and tourism promotion. It is expected that the Ministerial Meeting on Tourism held in Hoi An in October 2006 will deliver a statement on strengthening tourism cooperation among APEC member economies. 7. Reform APEC towards a more Dynamic and Effective Community APEC will take further actions to enhance the coordination and efficiency of various working groups/fora/task forces, improve the project appraisal and management so as to make projects more reflective of APEC's priorities and foster closer linkages between APEC Economic and Technical Cooperation (ECOTECH) and Trade and Investment Liberalization and Facilitation (TILF). MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS Mid-term Stocktake of the Bogor Goals and the Busan Roadmap (CW) The mid-term stocktake (MTST) of APEC‟s overall progress towards the Bogor Goals was commissioned by APEC Leaders in 2001. The MTST exercise led by the Senior Official assessed how far APEC has moved towards the Bogor Goals and identified what further actions were needed to reached the Goals. It culminated with the endorsement of the Busan Roadmap to the Bogor Goals by APEC Leaders in November 2005. The Roadmap outlined key priorities to reshape APEC work so that it can better respond to the new business environment and continue to drive free and 5 open trade and investment in the region. For 2006, all APEC fora are expected to develop concrete action plans to elaborate/follow-up on the elements contained in Roadmap, viz: (i) support for the multilateral trading system; (ii) strengthening collective and individual actions; (iii) promotion of high-quality RTAs/FTAs; (iv) Busan Business Agenda; (v) a strategic approach to capacity building; and (vi) the Pathfinder Approach. Advancing Trade and Investment Liberalization and Facilitation (TILF) Individual and Collective Action Plans Individual Action Plans (IAPs) and Collective Action Plans (CAPs) are important tools for tracking APEC‟s progress towards achieving the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment. In 2005, Ministers welcomed work on strengthening IAPs which resulted in a new IAP Update format, improved IAP Peer Review Guidelines and a timetable for the next cycle of reviews (2007-2009). Ministers also endorsed the 2005 Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) Annual Report to Ministers containing the revised/enhanced CAPs for 2005. For 2006, SOM and CTI are expected to continue work on strengthening collective and individual actions as follow-up to the implementation of the Busan Roadmap. The Roadmap called for CAPs to be updated to ensure that they are suitably outcomeoriented and reflect APEC‟s revised priorities. It also called for IAPs to be more transparent and accessible to business and the IAP Peer Review process to be made more robust, forward-looking and policy relevant to include a greater focus on what APEC members are doing individually and collectively to implement specific APEC commitments and priorities. At its first meeting in February 2006, the CTI, a primary vehicle for carrying forward and coordinating APEC‟s TILF agenda, will discuss and agree on a work program, including that will complement and contribute towards the achievement of APEC 2006 priorities. CTI sub-fora will be asked to update their respective CAPs as a function of the review process. Investment The starting point for APEC work on investment is the APEC Non-Binding Investment principles adopted in 1994 to promote investment liberalization and facilitation in the region. The importance of this document continued to be stressed by Ministers. They also reaffirmed the need to strengthen work in the investment area, including more effective implementation of the NIAP and assistance to APEC economies in identifying the impact of investment liberalisation and a further study on the interaction and relationship between various agreements on investment. Work is also underway to explore the possibility of including the model provisions on investment in the FTAs/RTAs in the region. APEC also strengthened cooperation with the OECD in the area of investment for development through the APEC-OECD Seminar on Policy Framework for investment which identified many areas for APEC and OECD to promote cooperation in investment for development. 6 Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP) In 2005, Ministers endorsed the TFAP Roadmap to 2006 which sets out concrete actions with clear timelines to assess the overall progress towards the goal of a five percent reduction in trade facilitation costs by 2006 that was established in 2001. Building on the 2001 target, Ministers also agreed to another five percent reduction in transaction costs by 2010. Ministers further instructed Officials to carry out further concrete actions in identified priority areas and develop a work plan that would take the TFAP work beyond 2006. The CTI has been supporting the SOM in the area of trade facilitation. For 2006, APEC is expected to undertake a final review of the implementation of actions in trade facilitation. In preparation for this review, a public-private dialogue on trade facilitation will be organised in the margins of CTI2 with a view to communicating the outcomes of APEC‟s 5 year implementation of TFAP and call for the inputs from the private sector to help define next steps for trade facilitation in the region. A draft experts‟ report will be presented to CTI 3, setting out analysis on the achievements across the APEC region. The report will take into account the discussions and recommendations of the public-private dialogue conducted in SOM II. RTAs/FTAs In November 2005, Leaders agreed that high-quality RTAs/FTAs were important avenues to achieve free and open trade and investment and called for ongoing work to pursue high quality, transparency and broad consistency in RTAs/FTAs in the region. They also welcomed the APEC Trade Facilitation Model Measures for RTAs/FTAs that would serve to function as a meaningful reference for negotiating RTAs/FTAs, and called for the development of model measures for as many commonly accepted FTA chapters as possible by 2008. Other groups, such as the ECSG, may look at chapters such as e-commerce. Ministers supported capacity building assistance to help member economies, especially developing economies, to enhance negotiations skills for RTAs/FTAs and for addressing the concerns of domestic industries. Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement With the APEC Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative being adopted at the June 2005 meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade, APEC‟s work on IPR has been further strengthened. Following this important development, the three APEC Model Guidelines - to Reduce Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods, to Protect Against Unauthorised Copies, and to Prevent the Sale of Counterfeit Goods over the Internet were also endorsed, laying the foundation for concrete steps to be taken to realize this initiative. Members are encouraged to consult the private sector during the implementation of this initiative. Ministers called on economies to complete the exchange of information on their IPR websites, IPR enforcement officials and steps they had taken to apply the APEC Effective Practices for Regulations Related to Optical Disc Production before SOM II 2006, and to take steps to further this work. Anti-corruption and Transparency An APEC Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts Task Force (ACT) was established in early 2005 to implement what our Leaders had committed themselves to when they met in Santiago. Korea organized an international symposium on anti- 7 corruption in September 2005 which attracted some 400 prominent experts to the meeting. At its first task force meeting, ACT recommended 2005 ACT Deliverables to APEC Leaders and Ministers. In November 2005, APEC Leaders endorsed the ACT Deliverables and reaffirmed that APEC will intensify regional cooperation to deny a safe haven to officials and individuals guilty of corruption, those who corrupt them and their illicitly-acquired assets, and to prosecute those engaged in bribery, including in international business transactions. APEC Leaders welcomed the signing of the ABAC Anti-corruption pledge by the CEOs at the APEC 2005 CEO Summit and encouraged public-private partnership in this campaign. Human Security Counter Terrorism and Secure Trade In 2005, Leaders and Ministers renewed APEC‟s commitments to dismantle transnational terrorist groups, to eliminate the danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems and related items, as well as to confront other direct threats to the security of the region in the future. Members are encouraged to develop new initiatives in this area, and to implement existing commitments to eliminate the danger of terrorism and secure trade unilaterally, bilaterally, multilaterally and in APEC. The CTTF Terms of Reference were also revised in 2005 with a mandate to coordinate with other relevant APEC fora on human security and counter-terrorism matters. The CTTF consultation mechanism will facilitate the exchange of reports between the CTTF Chair, Lead Shepherds and Chairs of APEC sub-fora engaged in security/counter-terrorism-related work. Health Security Following the renewal of the operation of the Health Task Force for another two years (2006-2007), Ministers endorsed the initiative on Preparing for and Mitigating an Influenza Pandemic with the aim of strengthened collective action and individual commitment on a multi-sectoral basis to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic. Ministers expressed particular concern about the threat that the highly pathogenic avian influenza posed to the APEC region as well as to the world, and committed to accelerating APEC‟s ongoing work on infectious disease threats such as avian influenza and HIV/AIDS in cooperation with specialized international organizations. In this regard, Viet Nam submitted a proposal to host an APEC Ministerial Meeting Responsible for Avian Influenza in 2006 to consolidate APEC work in addressing the threat of avian influenza. Emergency Preparedness Encompassing 52% of the earth‟s surface area and accounting for 59% of the world‟s population, the Asia Pacific are is a region where over 70% of the world‟s natural disasters occur. In response to the tragic Indian Ocean Tsunami on 26th December 2004, APEC members passed APEC‟s Strategy on Response to and Preparedness for Emergency and Natural Disasters and established the Task Force for Emergency Preparedness (TFEP) at SOMI 2005 in March. This has laid foundations for APEC members to promote cooperation on this front. Throughout the year, TFEP has 8 completed TFEP workplan, website strategy, and analysis of outcomes of TFEP stocktaking. Energy Security Amid the prolonged period of high oil prices, APEC energy security has been a crucial concern of most of APEC member economies. As a result, APEC Energy Ministers met for the second time in one year to find solutions to today‟s challenges for energy supply and demand. Energy Ministers‟ concern was shared by APEC Finance Ministers. They discussed the risks of sustained high energy prices to economic growth in the APEC economies when they met in Jeju in September 2005. They noted the importance of adequate investment in oil production and refining capacity, as well as technology transfer for energy conservation and developing renewable energy sources. APEC Leaders gave the highest and strongest endorsement for the APEC energy security initiative when they met in Busan in November 2005. They agreed to urgently respond to sustained oil price issue by addressing the supply and demand of the energy market simultaneously through: cooperative efforts to increase investment, to expand cross-border trade and to accelerate energy technology development, thereby reducing the region's vulnerability and securing its energy supply; and promotion of energy efficiency and conservation and diversification measures, which would help to reduce the demand of fossil fuels and lower speculative demand in the oil industry. Economic and Technical Cooperation 2005 saw a strengthening of the mandate of ECOTECH with an enhanced mandate to undertake a coordinating function, and to rank project proposals of Working Groups (WGs) by priority while evaluating their progress. In November 2005, Ministers reaffirmed the importance of ECOTECH in contributing to sustainable growth and achieving common prosperity, and its significant role in ensuring the achievement of the Bogor Goals. The new SOM Steering Committee on ECOTECH (SCE) comes into effect from 2006. Accordingly, the draft revision of the TOR of the ESC, and that of the BMC if necessary, will be accordingly submitted to SOM I in 2006. To make the SCE function as mandated, BMC II will be rescheduled to convene between SOM III and CSOM so that SCE can rank in a timely manner project proposals of WGs by priorities and transmit them to BMC II. APEC Cooperation with IFIs APEC cooperation with IFIs was given a further boost in 2006 with the fruitful conclusion of the second Policy Dialogue between APEC and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) held in Gyeongju in September. Most notably, synergy between all parties was found in the area of promoting capacity building for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and trade facilitation for developing member economies in APEC. This year, APEC-IFI cooperation will continue to be promoted through agreed activities such as identification of liaison members, sharing of work plans, joining in each other‟s seminars/symposiums, APEC‟s collaboration with the GDLN and others 9 Human Resources Development The importance of human resources development as an important foundation for the economic and social development of the APEC region was highlighted during the 17th APEC Ministerial Meeting. One major achievement was the successful conclusion of the APEC Symposium on Strengthening Social Safety Nets under Rapid Socioeconomic Changes in Seoul in August 2005, especially its finding that globalization and liberalization needed a complimentary social agenda to ensure that change was brought about smoothly, so as to maximize benefits of globalization and liberalization to all. The HRDWG‟s key deliverables in 2005 include, among others, establishment of the learning community and a stable supporting system for educational development, the APEC e-Learning Training Program as well as the Strategic Action Plan for English and other Languages in the APEC region. Gender Integration The Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN) was established by SOM to maintain the investment in gender tools, expertise and practices and ensure APEC leadership on issues leading to economic advancement for women in the APEC region. The GFPN continues to encourage other fora to have joint projects in areas of strategic importance to APEC and strengthen the existing coordinating mechanisms to reinforce gender integration in APEC programs and activities. The effective implementation of the APEC project Supporting Potential Women Exporters helped identify and implement trade facilitation and transparency measures that met the needs of women exporters and small business. An important challenge ahead is to translate the Framework for the Integration of Women into physical action for the benefits of women. Economic Committee Structural Reform The Economic Committee (EC) is responsible for leading APEC‟s structural reform work programme. Recognizing the importance of coordination, the EC‟s „APEC Work Plan on LAISR towards 2010‟ („LAISR 2010‟) aims to develop a “whole of APEC” approach for carrying out structural reform activities in APEC that is consistent with the LAISR statement. Endorsed by Ministers and Leaders in Busan in December 2005, „LAISR 2010‟‟s objective is to set out a road map for addressing structural reform issues in APEC. The EC will be coordinating with SELI, CPDG, FMP and other relevant APEC forum in carrying out its role with regard to structural reform. The policy issue for 2006 is public sector governance, with the issues for 2007, 2008 and 2009 to be discussed at EC I in 2006. In 2010, the EC will conduct a stocktake on APEC‟s progress on structural reform, including an overview of how the work program has contributed towards the achievement of the Bogor Goals. The EC plans to hold a public sector governance workshop in September 2006 at the margins of SOM III to address the structural reform theme for 2006. 10 Interaction with the Business Community Dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council In its 2005 report to Leaders, ABAC again provided extensive recommendations, from a business perspective, pertinent to a broad range of APEC fora and issues. In its Executive Summary, ABAC chose to highlight 6 particular topics, (i) support for the WTO and concerted effort to achieve an early and substantive outcome to the Doha Development Agenda; (ii) achieving the Bogor Goals in a meaningful and credible fashion will take strong steps from APEC members; (iii) continue to seek ways to facilitate business and reduce transaction costs, particularly in light of the new costs businesses must incur to comply with new security requirements; (iv) strengthen financial systems and mitigate the impacts on vulnerable economies of volatile capital movements; (v) Address critical capacity building needs with a more proactive, coordinated, strategic approach and (vi) strengthen APEC mechanisms to implement initiatives and achieve goals across a diverse range of important issues. APEC Ministers in 2005 approved new status for ABAC as a participant in APEC fora. This was not only to clarify confusion that had arisen in a few specific cases, but also to acknowledge the growing collaborative relationship between APEC and ABAC, and to encourage fora to welcome ABAC participation and input. APEC also welcomes steps taken by some fora to engage directly with interested business and notes the value of keeping dialogue open and responsive to stakeholder needs. Four industry dialogues – Automotive Dialogue, Chemical Dialogue, Life Sciences Innovation Forum, Non-Ferrous Metals Dialogue – will continue their work in 2006, in which APEC officials and business will work directly together to advance initiatives. Cross Cultural Communication In 2005 Korea established the APEC Culture Focal Point Network (CFPN). In Busan Leaders noted that APEC‟s efforts contributed to creating an Asia-Pacific community and welcomed the contribution of the cultural agenda by facilitating a deeper understanding among the people and lowering psychological barriers. Ministers welcomed the 2005 report of the APEC Focal Point Network on Cross-Cultural Communication (CFPN) and endorsed its recommendations. These included: strengthening information sharing through the APEC website; APEC Cultural Cooperation Events; an APEC Young Artists Gala; and an Annual Coordinator's Report to Senior Officials on CFPN Activities. Viet Nam is the Co-ordinator for the Network in 2006. Korea and Viet Nam have proposed holding an APEC cultural event this year. Youth Korea successfully organized the APEC 2005 Youth Plaza under the theme “APEC Youth in the CyberWorld”. Viet Nam has received the support of Ministers to its proposal to organize the APEC Youth Camp 2006. 11 Other fora-specific issues : Electronic Commerce In November 2005 in Busan, Korea at the 17th APEC Ministerial Meeting, Minister endorsed the completion of the APEC Privacy Framework. Ministers also urged all member economies to strengthen cooperation in paperless trade with a view of reinforcing mutual cooperation and pushing forward the achievements of APEC‟s paperless trading goals. Telecommunications and Information Recognizing the importance of expanding and improving the digital capabilities and skills of all APEC member economies, Ministers reaffirmed the Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII) as an essential basis for ensuring competitiveness of the region and instructed officials with TEL to intensify their efforts to achieve an APIS. They also encouraged APEC economies to develop and implement domestic policies and regulatory frameworks that maximised broadband deployment, access and usage, including people with disabilities and special needs; facilitation of continued telecom market competition and liberalisation; and confidence building in the use of broadband networks and services. Ministers welcomed the APEC Strategy to Ensure a Trusted, Secure and Sustainable Online Environment developed by TEL; and encouraged APEC member economies to take action in the areas identified. MANAGEMENT ISSUES: APEC Information Management Portal (AIMP) Since the Secretariat signed a sponsorship agreement with Microsoft for the software licences for the AIMP at the CEO Summit in 2005, the Secretariat signed a contract with atQuest for the implementation of the AIMP system. The AIMP project began on 1 December and will run for six months. The implementation of ACMS and LPMS modules is proceeding to schedule. Both modules have been tested and installed on the Secretariat‟s new servers to be launched in March. The systems functions and operational guidelines have been based on user roles as well as reflecting feedback from members using the earlier ACMS site. The Secretariat is now preparing policy guidelines for the use of AIMP by member economies, user groups; guests (public), readers, contributors and administrators. These policy guidelines will be circulated for comment before SOM II. The implementation of the Project Database module is expected to be ready for testing in April. Training courses for Secretariat staff will be held in March and we propose to have the ACMS ready for the BMC meeting at the end of March. Annual Members’ Contributions The APEC Secretariat has sent letters to all Senior Officials requesting payment of the 2006 contributions. The contribution rates are unchanged from the previous year, but following decisions made in 2005 under APEC reform will increase next year in 2007. Members are reminded that they have agreed that payments should be made 12 within the first quarter of the year. The 2006 budget has been agreed with this timing as one of the assumptions. 2005 Budget The auditors are reviewing the 2005 accounts ahead of the forthcoming Budget and Management Committee (BMC) meeting. Preliminary results indicate that the savings from the Administrative Account are on track to meet or even exceed the amount envisaged under the APEC Reform. The audited accounts will be presented to BMC1 and thereafter copies will be sent to the Senior Official of each economy. BMC Meeting, 29 -30 March 2006 The BMC has not yet met in 2006. The nominations of the new Chair from Korea and Vice-Chair from Viet Nam have been received. Projects Implementation First, a reminder that all TILF Special Account projects can now commence from 1 January each year (or their date of approval if later). The APEC Secretariat circulates details of all direct labour contracts above US$50,000 to all points of contact of the relevant forum and places these details on its website. Please assist us to obtain more competitive proposals by actively passing these details to possible contractors in your economy. Project Overseers are reminded of the need to give adequate time (at least four weeks before the meeting) to identify participants and speakers being funded to attend workshops. It can take several weeks to process their travel and for them to obtain visas, particularly if they have to transit the United States or Canada. Project Overseers should also contact the Secretariat on a regular basis, at least once every two months for the duration of the project. 2006 Urgent projects Assuming intersessional approval of some urgent projects for early implementation in 2006 the next BMC will be able to consider funding of Operational Account projects to the value of US$ US$476,195 and TILF Special Account projects to the value of US$1,449,047. Please note that there will likely be strong competition for funding for all projects. Assuming intersessional approval of HTF 02/2006A there will be no more funding available from the ASF until additional funds are received. Members will be informed immediately should the situation change. Each project should include a statement on the urgency; this should be related to the criteria set out in paragraph 2.8 of the Guidebook on APEC Projects (6th edition). Budgets should be carefully scrutinised to ensure that no more than necessary is requested; an element of self-funding would likely enhance the possibility of 13 approval, particularly for ASF and TILF projects. For funding under the TILF Special Account careful attention must be provided to the TILF linkage; around 20% of funding for TILF projects from developing economies should be self-funded; for developed economies this should be around 50%. [Economies which contribute to the TILF fund are exempt from these requirements] Projects for funding under the Operational Account or the APEC Support Fund should be accompanied by a completed QAF. All projects, whether for Operational or TILF Special Account funding, put forward should have the active involvement of at least three economies – as proposing / co-sponsoring economy. The APEC Secretariat must receive all finalised and ranked proposals for consideration at BMC I by Monday 13 March 2006. There will be no extensions to this time as BMC requires sufficient time to consider in their entirety all proposals ahead of BMC I. 2007 Projects At BMC I Members will recommend to SOM II an Affordable Limit of Expenditure for 2006 TILF projects. It is likely that the 2006 TILF funding for 2007 projects will be less than that in previous years. Hence the Affordable Limit of Expenditure for 2007 TILF projects will be significantly below last year‟s amount of US$5,000,000. Following the decisions on APEC reform last year the amount available for Operational Account projects for 2007 will be a net amount of US$1,900,000 corresponding to a gross amount of approximately US$2,200,000- i.e. an increase of US$200,000 over the funding for recent years. 2007 projects will be considered at BMC 2, scheduled for 10 – 12 October 2006. (SCE3 will consider the ranking of the Operational and ASF projects at its meeting in September 2006.) Project Evaluation Process The Quality Assessment Framework (QAF), a tool for Project Proponents to further improve project proposals before submission to the BMC, was approved by Ministers at the 16th AMM in Santiago to replace the previous ECOTECH Weightings Matrix. All project proposals seeking Operational Account funding and APEC Support Fund have been assessed based on QAF template since 2005. Two further frameworks, the framework for a health check for on-going projects and the framework for the evaluation of completed projects were put to trial on five projects by the volunteered Project Overseers. Ministers approved the two new frameworks for use from 2006 for projects under the Operational Account and the APEC Support Fund. The three frameworks cover the whole process of the APEC projects through Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation (AME). It is expected that the QAF with modifications, where appropriate, will be applied to TILF Special Account projects in the future. COMMUNICATION Website In mid-2005 we conducted a website survey and as a result implemented a drop-down navigation menu, installed a link-checker and a new search engine. In 2006 we will be 14 installing a work flow system that will allow us to ensure greater currency of the information on the APEC website. Outreach Presentation Modules In order to present a more consistent approach to outreach we developed a series of Presentation Modules in 2005. These Modules incorporate video, photographs, text and charts. The Inside APEC Presentation Module, comprising a PowerPoint presentation and an accompanying fact sheet in Word, has been updated to reflect the APEC Viet Nam 2006 year. You are welcome to use this module, and the Trade Facilitation Module (currently under development). We will provide a series of relevant fact sheets, templates and User Guides for those APEC members interested in using them. Promotional Materials The APEC Secretariat Communications Team continues to help fora to effectively promote the work of each forum to the media, business, government officials and other key target audiences. The new Trade Facilitation brochure, produced in November of 2005, is one example of a promotional piece that the Secretariat developed in cooperation with and APEC forum, in this case the CTI. New initiatives, events, publications and projects are of interest to many audiences within and outside the APEC process and we can help you to reach these audiences. Publications advice and production services, as well as advice on APEC documentation requirements are also provided by the team. Experts Register Last year we began to develop an Experts Register consisting of individuals in various APEC fora who were willing and able to speak to the media about specific technical issues. This year we aim to expand that register with a view to developing a list of people who might be interested in speaking about APEC in a vehicle like Talk Asia. Media support Just about all APEC events and issues are of interest to the wide range of recipients of official APEC news. This ranges from major news outlets such as CNN to industry publications and the growing number of direct APEC News recipients. As such, any event that you are involved with may be of interest to people in these news groups. To promote the activities of your group through the media or our direct news audience we just require some simple information on your activities and we will prepare a draft news story for you to consider and present to your group. Your Director Program will approach you over the course of the year to determine what might be of interest to the APEC audience. Please note that no draft material is released until it has been cleared by the relevant Chair or official. 15 APEC E-Newsletter The APEC E-Newsletter is published quarterly and sent to a subscription database of just over 2500 journalists, business people, government officials and academics in nearly all economies. And in excess of three times this number access the ENewsletter directly through the APEC website. It is an effective vehicle for providing in-depth information on interesting issues to a broader audience. We can draft articles for you on newsworthy subjects. Contact us with ideas for articles as the year progresses. The tentative publication schedule for 2006 is – Issue 1 – March Issue 2 - June Issue 3 – September Issue 4 - December View the latest issue through the APEC website, www.apec.org. Business Outreach In the coming year, we anticipate continuing to work with economies, fora and ABAC to refine our business outreach strategy and programs. Some projected areas of work include:      Refine Key Messages to business, which should run through communications content. Expand our collection of business-oriented communications materials. Expand external business contacts and develop consequent relationships. Work on improving the business-oriented portions of the APEC Website. Discuss how to engage with businesses that respond to APEC outreach – what do we want from them, what can we offer, how can we engage? Activities within your forum, initiatives aimed at business, new publications or dialogues for business, are all of potential interest to the APEC business community. We would urge economies and fora, on an ongoing basis, to help us identify and develop stories for the business community. Use of APEC Logo To protect our APEC Trademark, the Secretariat will assist you to ensure that the APEC logo is reproduced correctly in your events materials or reports. Please consult your responsible Director (Program) or contact Ms. Jacqueline Tan, APEC Publishing and Corporate Affairs Manager at jt@apec.org to obtain the logo guidelines, files or certificate templates. Publications and APEC Websites The Secretariat continues to provide advice on production of publications (including project reports, proceedings) and multimedia materials. 16 The guidelines can be accessed via the Secretariat‟s http://www.apec.org/apec/about_apec/policies_and_procedures.html Meeting Documentation website at APEC Secretariat Program Directors provide advice and forward relevant information on handling of documents to their respective fora prior to meetings. Guidelines can be accessed via the Secretariat‟s http://www.apec.org/apec/about_apec/policies_and_procedures.html website at 17