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The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, said today (Monday) he was very happy with this year's APEC Leaders Declaration giving the 'strongest possible support' for a new round of global trade talks.

Other key points of the Leaders Declaration covered reform and strengthening of international financial architecture and domestic financial markets and the Y2K problem.

Mr Tung said he was very pleased that leaders had issued a 'strong call' for early progress in accession negotiations to the WTO for the APEC economies which were not yet members of the world trade body.

At their last meeting of the century, the 21 APEC Leaders added their collective economic clout to calls for accession negotiations to be concluded at the earliest possible opportunity and, if possible, before the start of any new WTO negotiations.

WTO members are due to meet in Seattle in November for the 3rd Ministerial Conference, at which the possibility of a new round of broad-based and multilateral trade negotiations will be discussed.

"Hong Kong has consistently supported the universality of the WTO and hence China's accession to the WTO," said Mr Tung.

"The Mainland is now such a very important economy. We very much want to see China assuming its rightful role in the world trading system.

"China's accession to the WTO would provide all WTO members with better market access, improved transparency and predictability of trade policies and a means to settle disputes with China multilaterally."

Mr Tung said he was pleased to see that the summit meeting between President Jiang Zemin and US President Bill Clinton in Auckland last week had given new impetus to the ongoing Sino-US negotiations on China's accession to the WTO.

He said that APEC leaders had also agreed that any new round of WTO negotiations should be concluded within three years as a single package and should have market access benefits especially for developing economies.

The Chief Executive said APEC leaders had called on WTO members to join an APEC commitment not to introduce any new or more restrictive trade measures for the duration of the negotiations.

Mr Tung said leaders welcomed, endorsed and encouraged efforts by Finance Ministers to strengthen domestic financial markets and the international financial architecture.

"We supported ongoing efforts to improve crisis prevention and resolution and also urged prompt action to improve the transparency of highly-leveraged institutions," he said.

"We have encouraged enhanced supervision of financial markets, the development of domestic bonds markets and by developing and applying agreed principles of corporate governance."

On Y2K, Mr Tung said APEC leaders had recognised the need for more co-operation in contingency planning in the runup to the crucial changeover date.

"We agreed that we should accelerate cross-border contingency planning and enhance transparency about Y2K readiness as a matter of high priority," said Mr Tung.

"We agreed to share information and expertise about possible Y2K impacts on critical infrastructure during and after the date change."

Mr Tung said that leaders had also reviewed the work of APEC during its first decade.

"We all firmly believe that an open, regional framework which allows competition and co-operation to flourish is the best way to build a prosperous future," he said.

"I am sure all leaders, like myself, believe that the spirit of APEC will grow even stronger in the next 10 years as economies continue to become more open and liberalised."

Mr Tung leaves Auckland tomorrow (Tuesday) and is due to arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow night.

Photo: The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa (fifth from left) listens as the APEC Leaders Declaration is read in Auckland by New Zealand's Prime Minister, Mrs Jenny Shipley.

End/Monday, September 13, 1999

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