Business network gets resounding approval of APEC

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Asia-Pacific Business Network (APB-Net), a new body facilitating business activities among members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, yesterday gained the endorsement from the forum's senior officials who are meeting here.

Following his report to the Third APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in Yogyakarta yesterday, Husein Aminuddin, chairman of the organizing committee of the first APB-Net meeting, said delegates fully backed the launching of the APB-Net.

"There were no objections. They supported the APB-Net," he said.

The chairman of the SOM, Indonesia's Wisber Loeis, said that the progress and objectives of the APB-Net received an enthusiastic response.

Conceived during the Second APEC SOM in Bali last May, it was not till the first APB-Net meeting in Jakarta on Aug. 23-25 that this new organization was formally launched.

Some 200 delegates from member countries attended the first APB-Net meeting, co-convened by Indonesia and Australia.

Its main objective was to develop business networking in the APEC region. In other words, the APB-Net is the manifestation of the private business sector within the 17-member APEC.

APEC groups Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Mexico, United States, Japan, and Canada.

Bernard Trevanion from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry remarked that the APB-Net was seen by many as a concrete product of the ambitions set at the inaugural APEC Economic Leaders Meeting (ALEM) on Blake Island, Seattle last year.

Separately, Wisber concurred with this remark saying that no less than 10 delegations during yesterday's meeting made favorable comments about the APB-Net.

The Japanese delegation responded by identifying the importance of the APB-Net as a means of channeling the vitality of the business sector.

Meanwhile the United States delegation, lead by Sandra O'Leary, assistant secretary at the State Department's East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, expressed their encouragement about the involvement of Japan as host of the next APB-Net meeting next year.

Assessment

At the end of yesterday's meetings, Wisber, who is director general of foreign economic relations at the foreign ministry in Jakarta, commented on the implementation of the decisions reached at the APEC meeting in Seattle by saying the SOM had adopted a new approach.

The SOM has decided that initiatives will be assessed under the seven themes contained within the ALEM Vision Statement.

"All the of APEC's current activities will be grouped under the seven themes," Wisber said.

"Thus, we can see to what extent the instructions of the leaders contained in the Vision Statement have been implemented," he concluded.

On the second day of the three day SOM, delegates swiftly achieved consensus on a number of issues such as the adoption of two new sub-committees under the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI).

The new sub-committees are on standards and conformance, and on customs and procedures. It will have a trial period of three years after which the forum will evaluate their work.

A draft declaration on human resources development, which Indonesia introduced on Monday, was also well received by fellow APEC members.

Pending future recommendations, the draft declaration will undergo additional amendments so it can be ready for the Sixth APEC Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta on Nov. 11-12.

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