What if NZ could replace huge amounts of paper documents that accompany every export transaction with data?! Going digital would be a win-win for exporters, consumers and governments. Read Glen Candy’s blog for TradeWorks.
APEC Bali – not your usual tropical holiday NBR – 2 October 2013
By Stephen Jacobi 1
Stephen Jacobi profiles what’s on the agenda as APEC meets in a tropical holiday spot this week.
Bali is perhaps an unlikely backdrop for this week’s APEC Summit, but perhaps no more so than Vladivostok, the venue for last year’s meeting. Bali’s infrastructure is likely to cope well with the influx of Leaders, Ministers, senior officials and some 1200 business people. The holiday atmosphere should not mask the seriousness of the discussions that will be held ? ensuring the economic health of the Asia Pacific region and building a platform for growth and jobs is not a togs and jandals affair.
Indonesia, as this year’s host, is keen to use the APEC gathering to mark its emergence as a regional power-house. And rightly so ? today, as the world recovers slowly from financial slump, Indonesia, a proud member of the G20, is growing at over 6 percent and on a course to challenge the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy. That’s good news for New Zealand if we can organize ourselves effectively to grasp the opportunity ? at present our economic relations barely scratch the surface of Indonesia’s potential as a market for food, education, tourism and for co-operation on renewable energy. Partly this is a matter of Indonesian policy ? while Indonesia is a signatory to the Australia-New Zealand- ASEAN FTA, barriers to food imports have remained a problem and need to be resolved. Building stronger relationships with Indonesian business is also critical.
Indonesia has so far shown little interest in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) but TPP will be front of mind for many at the Bali meetings. After five years of effort and nineteen rounds of negotiations TPP is entering what many hope is its closing phase. TPP Ministers will meet in Bali and finalise their recommendations to TPP Leaders who will decide on a course to guide the negotiations to the end of the year. Make no mistake about it ? TPP has the potential to transform the way business is done in the region but only if the political will can be found to maintain the vision for an high quality, ambitious and comprehensive outcome which was agreed back at APEC Honolulu in 2011. TPP has come a long way since then with four major economies – Canada, Mexico and, most recently, Japan – joining the negotiations adding both to the attractiveness but also complexity of the negotiations. Participants at the 4th Japan NZ Partnership Forum in Tokyo last week were reassured about Japan’s seriousness in joining TPP, which has a central role to play in Japan’s economic recovery strategy.
Right now some serious issues remain to be resolved, including the perennial issues of market access for agriculture, but also intellectual property rights, which impact on the climate for innovation and the role of state owned enterprises, which in many economies are over-supported by governments. TPP Leaders will be mindful of the need to find ways for trade and investment to be the engine of growth in the region and for TPP to become a pathway for wider liberalisation amongst all 21 member economies of APEC. A complementary pathway exists in the form of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in which both New Zealand and Indonesia are involved ? the second round of negotiations has just been held. Ways of ensuring that TPP and RCEP move forward together is also a matter requiring attention in Bali.
Because APEC is a voluntary and non-binding forum, both TPP and RCEP are being negotiated outside of APEC’s formal structure but both impact directly on APEC’s agenda. It was in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994 that the region adopted the vision for free trade and investment in the region by 2020. In Hanoi in 2006 the concept of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) was adopted. APEC’s work programme, overseen by Alan Bollard as Executive Director, is directed to strengthening regional co-operation on a wide range of issues, including regulation, supply chain security, food security, education and science to name just a few.
Business input into this process is provided by the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the three senior business representatives appointed by each APEC government. Tony Nowell, Maxine Simmons and Wayne Boyd will participate in ABAC’s annual face-to-face dialogue with Leaders on 7 October. Freer trade, inclusive growth, infrastructure investment, women’s entrepreneurship and financial issues are all high on the list of ABAC’s recommendations.
This year’s APEC CEO Summit, which coincides with the Leaders’ Summit will focus on the big picture of the region’s economic health. The Summit will be addressed by President Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Obama, President Xi of China, Prime Minister Abe of Japan as well as Prime Minister Key and a host of CEOs from around the region. The CEO Summit provides an unparalleled opportunity for the New Zealand team to build and enhance the key relationships, which will sustain our drive into the region.
Bali’s tourist charms will certainly not be lost on those attending the APEC meetings. APEC is fundamental to New Zealand’s economic security. Amidst the surf and sand, there’s some serious stuff going down in Bali this week.
1Stephen Jacobi is Executive Director of the NZ International Business Forum ( www.nzibf.co.nz) and Alternate Member of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).
REGISTER WITH TRADE WORKS
Register to stay up to date with latest news, as well as saving and discussing articles you’re interested in.
Latest News
Doubling our exports with zeroes…and ones!
The development of written language in the ancient world didn’t start with great poetry or literary epics. The catalyst for writing was the need to record the transfer of the ownership of goods from one person to another. Scribes did this by marking tablets of clay...
Asia-Pacific business leaders rally for robust global trade amidst rising protectionism
APEC NEWS RELEASE Issued by The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) - April 2024 This week in Hong Kong, China, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) voiced serious concerns regarding the global shift towards protectionism and regional fragmentation, risking...
SUBMISSION TO THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE – APRIL 2024
NEW ZEALAND-UAE COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT NEGOTIATIONS This submission is made on behalf of the New Zealand International Business Forum (NZIBF), whose members are listed at Annex A[1]. NZIBF is a forum of senior business leaders working together...
NEW TEAM FOR AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND LEADERSHIP FORUM
Media release, 2 April 2024 The New Zealand Co-Chair of the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF), Greg Lowe, welcomes the appointment of Stephen Jacobi and Simon Le Quesne to the New Zealand arm of the ANZLF Secretariat. The ANZLF brings business leaders,...
NZ/EU FTA A BONUS FOR SOME SECTORS – BUSINESS FORUM
Media release, 22 March 2024 The NZ International Business Forum (NZIBF) acknowledges the passage of the implementing legislation for the New Zealand/European Union Free Trade Agreement and looks forward to the FTA’s entry into force on 1 May. “This agreement was...
“MEAGRE OUTCOME” FROM WTO IN ABU DHABI – BUSINESS FORUM
Media release, 2 March 2024 Despite its overwhelming importance at the heart of the international trade system, members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have concluded their Ministerial in Abu Dhabi (“MC13”) with only a meagre outcome. NZ International Business...
To go or woe with the WTO?
We’ve been here before with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The global trade body’s 13th Ministerial meeting (“MC13”) opens in Abu Dhabi on Monday 26 February, with Trade Minister McClay serving as Vice-Chair. In recent weeks diplomats, trade...
DCANZ – Agricultural Subsidy Distortions Must Be Addressed
23 February 2024 - Media Release by the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) As the world’s Trade Ministers head to a WTO meeting in Abu Dhabi, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) is calling for an immediate capping of agricultural...
Asia-Pacific business leaders call for greater economic dynamism with people at the center of the APEC agenda
16 February 2024 - APEC NEWS RELEASE Issued by The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), meeting this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, expressed deep concerns about the growing pressures of economic fragmentation and the risks...
SUBMISSION TO THE PARLIAMENTARY FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE COMMITTEE – FEBRUARY 2024
NEW ZEALAND EUROPEAN UNION FREE TRADE AGREEMENT LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL Introduction and Summary This submission is made on behalf of the New Zealand International Business Forum (NZIBF) and Export NZ. NZIBF is a forum of senior business leaders working...
ABAC Statement on WTO MC13 – February 2024
Now, more than ever, the world needs a credible, relevant, and effective multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core. In this era of global challenges, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) recognizes that the WTO is...
Global Industry Statement on the WTO Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions
NZIBF has joined 170 international business associations in calling for an extension to the current moratorium on tariffs applying to digital services (like Netflix) at the forthcoming WTO Ministerial meeting. The undersigned associations urge WTO members to support...
Resilient supply chains: Yesterday, today and tomorrow
Published by the Hinrich Foundation, Singapore, 23 August 2024 By Stephen Jacobi History has much to teach us about the way trade contributes to prosperity through the movement of goods, services, people, and ideas. Today, data can be added to this web of...
SUBMISSION TO THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE COMPREHENSIVE AND PROGRESSIVE AGREEMENT FOR TRANS- PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (CPTPP) DECEMBER 2023 Summary This submission is made on behalf of the New Zealand International Business Forum (NZIBF). As individual NZIBF Members may make their own...
Todd McClay – your trade mission, should you choose to accept it …
As published by Newsroom 19 December 2023 By Stephen Jacobi “Twas the week before Christmas, When all through the house Not a creature was stirring, Except busy trade officials … ‘Tis the season to be “BiM-ing”* and the NZ International Business Forum has sent its...