In 2004 Chile shall have its first experience as the forum’s host economy.

The importance of APEC, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, for our country may be described in qualitative and quantitative terms. This regional dialogue group accounts for nearly half of the world’s GDP - US$ 419 trillion – and Chile will chair this Forum and all its related activities throughout 2004. The consequence of this responsibility, involving the congregation in Chile of the 21 Heads of State of APEC’s member economies, placing our country in the media agenda of over half the television sets of the world - since APEC accounts for 60% of the world’s population - is no doubt an opportunity to position Chile in the Asia Pacific region.

Chile joined the Forum in 1994 and the Asia Pacific region is currently our country’s main export destination. Last year, Chile’s sales to APEC economies amounted to US $ 10,075.9 million, representing 57% of its total exports. APEC also accounts for nearly 60% of Chile’s direct foreign investment in the past decade. At present, we have two free trade agreements in force with APEC members: Mexico and Canada, and two additional FTA’s have been signed with the USA and South Korea. We also entered into an Economic Complementation Agreement with Peru and negotiations for an FTA shall be initiated shortly with New Zealand and Singapore. We have carried out assessment studies to enhance trade relations with Japan, and are determined to take on similar actions with China.

Today, Asia leads the world’s economic recovery, and Chile’s participation in APEC propitiates bilateral links with economies that register growth rates above 5%. China’s GDP, for example, grew over 9% in the first quarter of this year, and its exports and imports for 2002 amounted to US$ 620 billion.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has become a real catalyst for bilateral relations. It was during the APEC Leaders’ Summit in Brunei held in November 2000 that Presidents Lagos and Clinton advanced their positions toward the Chile-USA FTA. And at the Leaders’ Summit in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, then-South Korean President, Kim Dae-Jung, approached Eduardo Frei to initiate negotiations for a free trade agreement. Negotiations for the trilateral FTA between Chile, New Zealand and Singapore were announced at the Los Cabos Summit last year. Progress in relations with economies such as China and Japan is also taking place within APEC.

APEC 2004 is Chile’s year. In December 2003, Chile shall have its first experience as the Forum’s host economy. It will hold the Informal SOM meeting, where APEC’s 21 High Officials will discuss the 2004 work program. This will be followed by the various activities that give life to an APEC year, addressing the permanent work agenda, the concerns of member economies, and our country’s thematic agenda during its chairmanship.

The fact that the Leaders’ Summit will be held just before the deadline for the completion of the Doha Round, i.e., January 2005, will enhance APEC’s catalyst role even more. It is obvious that the progress of multilateral free trade negotiations will be one of the issues for discussion by the 21 Heads of State that will meet in Chile at the end of next year.

The close collaboration between the private sector and the APEC Business Advisory Council, ABAC, where Chile is represented by Hernán Somerville, Juan Villarzú and Andrónico Luksic; the serious effort to reduce trade-related transaction costs by 5% by 2006, taking into account the new trade security measures; APEC’s various capacity building programs; the initiatives to facilitate and liberalize trade and investment, including aspects as concrete as the mobility of businesspeople; or the goal for greater and more equitable participation by women, are but a synopsis of the vast world that APEC conforms. Asia Pacific, a world that will have Chile as its capital as of December 2003, and which our citizens will see as a serious and promising alternative of equitable development.

-Source: Press Release APEC Chile 2004