REMARKS BY
SECRETARY OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER
AT THE OPENING SESSION FIFTH APEC MINISTERIAL
Seattle, Washington
November 18, 1993

I'd like to warmly welcome our two new members, Mexico and Papua New Guinea. I welcome you to the forum of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation entity. It is very pleasant to have you here, and I ask the other members to join me in a small welcome. (Applause) We also have decided, based upon yesterday's events that Chile will become a member in 1994, and we look forward to welcoming Chile at that time.

As another part of the results of yesterday's discussions, we have, as you know, agreed that there will be a three-year period in which there will be a deferral of the consideration of any new members to allow us to consolidate our efforts and to consider the issue of new members. So those three matters of consensus were reached yesterday. I thought I would announce that before we begin our proceedings today.

Now if I can open the meeting today by a few welcoming remarks. I do welcome you formally but also in a very warm and informal spirit to Seattle and for this fifth forum of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation entity and to our Ministerial meeting.

In 1776, the year of America's birth, the famous American essayist, Thomas Payne, wrote: "No place on earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling of the world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with the world."

Payne's assumption that happiness would be increased by trade is certainly prophetic. The isolation that he treasured is neither accurate nor as consistent as we've found with successful trade relationships. Trade relationships, as we all know, require constant and vigorous attention and engagement, and that is one of the main purposes of this organization.

For the United States and for all the economies represented here, this APEC conference is a prime opportunity for that kind of engagement. APEC can serve not only as a vehicle for our common prosperity but as a forum for cooperation across a broad range of regional and global issues.

As you know, President Clinton and I have put economic security at the very heart of American foreign policy, and no part of the world is more important to economic well being than the Asian-Pacific region.

As a Pacific nation ourselves, we are committed to expanding our ties with Asia, and that is why we attach such very great importance to APEC and to this meeting. We are very fortunate to have an opportunity to host it in the first year of President Clinton's Administration.

APEC's work to liberalize regional trade certainly advances American interests. But the work we undertake here advances the interests of each and every one of the members. It is this harmony of interests which makes APEC such a useful and constructive organization.

Just a few words about the purposes of this meeting, the specific purposes of this meeting. This year's Ministerial is dedicated to expanding the flow of Pacific trade and investment. We'll discuss the many ways that our diverse economies can work together. The declaration on an APEC trade and investment framework, which we will consider for adoption, is the result of year-long consultation by our APEC senior officials. It incorporates ideas from all of you around the room, and it represents a significant and welcome step forward, I believe, by APEC as an institution.

Yesterday's historic vote approving NAFTA gives our work today here an added sense of urgency. The vote last night was not just a dramatic moment, which perhaps some of you saw on television, but, as the President said, it was also a defining moment. It sent a message throughout the region that the United States remains committed to open trade and to global growth.

Let me emphasize and state my view as firmly as I can that neither NAFTA nor APEC are trading blocs. They're building blocks. All of us here are committed to an open global trading system that will spur economic growth, create jobs and increase the prosperity and welfare of all of our citizens. So I urge everyone here today to act on that commitment by pushing for a successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round by the December 15 deadline. I hope that this Ministerial will issue a strong and urgent call to win broad and liberalizing agreement in the GATT negotiations.

At our meeting today, we'll also hear a report from the Eminent Persons Group which will give us a blueprint for opening trade and widening our economic contacts. We'll assess also here today the work of the APEC working groups and discuss the vision statements that have been prepared by those groups.

Just a further word about the working groups. They've worked to analyze a number of important problems: regional transportation bottlenecks, telecommunications links, ways to standardize trade data, ways to promote commercial exchanges, and to share information on environmentally sound technologies, all tasks that are important for our region and vital for long-term economic progress.

One of the highest priorities that we have in this week's discussion is to find ways to involve the private sector more actively in APEC's work. I think it's ultimately the business community that will drive the region's growth and prosperity, and it behooves us as ministers to find ways to involve the private business, many of whom I'm glad to say are here in the room and many of whom we saw last night. They're dedicated to helping us make APEC work. As I said last night, it's our view that APEC should focus on three areas. I won't repeat them at length, but let me just tick them off briefly.

First, we should promote open trade and investment in the region. That was APEC's original purpose and no doubt is our most enduring task. Second, we should enhance cooperation on regional issues that require regional solutions, issues like energy and the environment. And, third, we should improve regional networks and infrastructures, that bind us together. In that cooperative spirit, forward-looking thought, President Clinton has invited the APEC economic leaders to an informal session on Saturday. He told me yesterday on the telephone when we were talking about the NAFTA vote how much he looked forward to that meeting and to participating in this APEC endeavor. This, of course, will mark the first time that these leaders have met to discuss long-term economic opportunities and challenges we face.

The President and I are convinced that APEC's members will contribute to ideas and to technology that will lead the world's economy into the next century. Benjamin Franklin, one of the great founding members of the United States and a contemporary of Thomas Payne, once observed that no nation was ever ruined by trade. If I could take the liberty of updating that remark, I'd say that no great nation can succeed without trade. Every economy here is proof of the importance of trade.

So together let us expand our trade and advance our common prosperity starting here and now. Thank you very much.