U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Vancouver, British Columbia)
Remarks of Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright November 24, 1997
Text as Prepared for Delivery
CEO Summit, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum
Thank you, Mr. D'Aquino, for that introduction and for the opportunity to address this very important gathering at this very critical time.
I want to begin by thanking our Canadian hosts for the fantastic job they have done in organizing and making arrangements for this summit.
I also applaud Paul O'Donoghue and the Pacific Basin Economic Council and Thomas D'Aquino and the Business Council for convening this CEO summit. During the past three days, you have heard from a galaxy of this region's economic and political leaders. The extraordinary level of participation and interest reflects the paramount role the private sector plays in the economy of the Asia-Pacific.
It is fitting, therefore, that partnership between the public and private sectors is at the heart of APEC. And that partnership's purpose is to create a vibrant and growing regional economy that will raise living standards from Sydney to Santiago and from the Yukon to the Yangtze.
From the beginning, the United States has been a leader in APEC. The reason is that our citizens have an enormous stake here.
We are a Pacific nation, just as we are an Atlantic and a Caribbean nation. We are major buyers and sellers in Asia-Pacific markets. We are investors and partners. We are travelers and teachers and students. We have allies and friends in every part of the region. And having fought three wars in the Pacific during the past six decades, we are committed to the region's security and dedicated to its stability.
United States' policies in the Asia-Pacific reflect our principles, our values and our experience.
We believe that democratic institutions, including free economies and respect for human rights, provide the best environment for individual initiative. And that initiative leads, in turn, to productive enterprise; which breeds prosperity; which spawns stability; which is a parent to security and peace.
And let me say at the outset that Congress's failure to renew the President's fast track trade negotiating authority has not altered our determination to lead. We view that failure as a setback we intend to overcome. Next year, we will return to Congress. And we are hopeful that the President will be given the flexibility he needs to go forward with our trade agenda in the Asia-Pacific -- on time and in full.
Over the past quarter century, we have watched with admiration as the peoples of the Asia-Pacific transformed their economies through hard work, innovation, and steady movement in the direction of open markets and reform. The result was an explosion in trade, reduced poverty and record growth.
In earlier APEC meetings, we have celebrated these trends and focused our attention on how to sustain them. In such a climate, the spirit of partnership has been relatively easy to nourish.
This year, however, is different. We meet amidst predictions that the Asia Miracle will be succeeded by an Asia Meltdown. We have witnessed five months of turbulence in capital markets. The specters of debt and deflation hover over the region. Emergency help has been required. And growth rates have slowed.
As a result, governments and businesspeople are being tested to a far greater degree than in recent years.
And the world is asking: will our partnerships fall apart; or will we pull together?
Will we squander our energies on finger-pointing and blame-pinning; or will we focus on how to get back on track?
Will we put our faith in alleged panaceas that are quick, easy and wrong; or we will we renew our commitment to the basic principles that underlay past accomplishments and are essential to our future hopes?
As leaders, we who are assembled here in Vancouver this week, whether from the public sector or private, have a responsibility to work together to see that these questions are answered in the right way. And that the necessary steps are taken to restore stability, rebuild confidence and restart growth.
To find the way forward, the United States is emphasizing two core points. First, each country in the region must take responsibility for implementing sound economic policies. This is true no matter how difficult or painful the choices may be. There is simply no other way to ensure long term economic expansion.
Second, the international community -- with the IMF at its center -- must be prepared to help those nations that need assistance and that are doing their best to help themselves.
Accordingly, the United States strongly supports the decisions made last week in Manila to improve regional cooperation in promoting financial stability, and to strengthen the IMF's capacity to respond to financial crises.
The fact that the region's economic leaders were able to agree on the Manila framework is encouraging. And it validates the underlying premise of APEC, which is that we will all do better when we each do better. Stability, like turbulence, is contagious.
In the months ahead, the region's economies must combine the energy of the tiger with the wisdom of the owl.
We must embrace, not retreat from the concepts that have been the foundation of past economic growth, including sound macroeconomic management, high rates of savings, free markets and liberal trade and capital flows. We must also learn from the recent disruptions by reforming banking systems, curbing corruption and promoting the kind of reliable investments that yield sustained growth.
During this decade, APEC has evolved into a dynamic catalyst in the movement towards a more open regional and global economy. We saw that in 1993 with the Uruguay Round, and last year with the Information Technology Agreement.
This year, APEC is once again playing a catalytic role. The support expressed at Saturday's Ministerial for completion of a strong global financial services agreement should be a neon sign to investors that this region is determined to restore the conditions that make impressive growth possible.
The Sectoral Liberalization package approved by the ministers, covering nine sectors and more than $700 million in trade, is further dramatic evidence of this determination.
These are solid accomplishments. But if APEC is to continue to progress in reaching its potential, the public and private sectors must strive together to forge more and more specific agreements.
Consider, for example, the agreements reached this year to eliminate duplicative testing of telecommunications equipment and to speed the processing of express packages.
These agreements will save both money and time. And they are happening because the industries affected got informed, got involved and got specific. That is the model for translating the promise of APEC into the reality of a more efficient economy and a healthier bottom line.
Looking ahead, the United States sees an opportunity for APEC to make progress on infrastructure by making government purchasing more transparent, and by working through the private sector to develop a regional network for the delivery of natural gas.
We see a chance to open further the new frontier of cyberspace through an accelerated work plan to identify ways to enhance the benefits of electronic commerce.
We believe APEC can be a leader in promoting innovative green technologies and environmentally-sensitive development.
We would like to see APEC committed not only to more trade and freer trade, but also cleaner trade. Several APEC economies agreed a few days ago to the OECD Convention criminalizing foreign commercial bribery. But several is not enough; we hope every APEC economy will join.
And we believe that the APEC community can do more, in conjunction with other international organizations, to prepare for and prevent environmental and weather-related disasters.
In Southeast Asia, in recent months, forest and peat fires and a drought brought on by El Nino have caused severe damage to crops, reduced water supplies and exacted other large social and economic costs. It should be a top priority for APEC, and for us all, to do everything we can to see that such disasters are not repeated.
Finally it is also vital that the nations of the Asia-Pacific work together in Kyoto early next month to achieve a consensus for strong, realistic and equitable action to combat global climate change.
The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is real, and the harmful ecological and environmental impacts that result will grow steadily more serious over time. As businesspeople, you know that the longer a problem is ignored or denied, the more painful the eventual remedy will be.
President Clinton has proposed a plan of action that sets tough, but realistic, targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The plan also includes innovative strategies such as emissions trading and joint implementation arrangements that are designed to reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost. This has the added benefit of creating strong incentives for investment in environmental services and clean technologies.
The United States believes it is right for the industrialized nations to act first in the effort to control climate change.
But we also believe that larger and relatively well-off developing nations must do their fair share over the long term. Otherwise, the exponential increase in emissions by the developing economies will overwhelm any reductions the industrialized world is able to achieve. In this fight, all must participate, albeit in different ways.
The Kyoto Conference provides an opportunity for the world to answer a threat that, if left unattended, will endanger us all. But through joint efforts, based on shared values, in the service of a profound mutual interest, we can achieve a consensus for action that will benefit us all.
I hope the international business community will join with us, both to get an agreement that is truly global and that will truly work, and to help the public understand that we cannot afford not to act.
During the past quarter century, Asia-Pacific economies have achieved miracles of expansion, job creation, poverty reduction and rising living standards. Today, they are undergoing a severe test. And so are we all.
To meet that test, we must join forces -- as governments, as businesspeople and as citizens -- from all around the Pacific Rim.
We must act with patience, persistence and principle to stabilize economies, promote good governance, bring down barriers to trade, and engender a broad public conviction that open markets will open the door to prosperity not just for the lucky few, but for the hardworking many.
As Thomas D'Aquino has said, it should be an Asia-Pacific hallmark that businesses and governments work together to see "that trade and investment liberalization and economic growth provide the widest possible benefits to citizens and societies."
The United States has a deep faith in the genius and productivity of the peoples of the Asia-Pacific, in the resilience and fundamental strength of their economies, and in their capacity to absorb setbacks, re-group and come back strong.
It was this faith that prompted President Clinton to invite APEC leaders to come together four years ago, setting in motion a process of cooperation and partnership that deepens with each passing year.
And it is this faith that allows us -- even as we struggle with current problems -- to look to the future not only with determination, but with confidence.
Thank you very much.
Return to Return to U.S.-APEC Homepage.