Today, I will travel to the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting which will take place in Bali, Indonesia.
From October 6-9, I will have a series of bilateral meetings to discuss our regional priorities including trade and investment.
Australia has a long record of engagement at APEC, as a founding member in 1989 and APEC host in 2007.
APEC’s 21 member economies represent 56 per cent of the world’s GDP and $437.8 billion, or over 70 per cent, of Australia’s trade in goods and services.
Economic engagement with our region is a priority for the Government and APEC is the leading regional forum for promoting trade liberalisation and economic integration.
The APEC Leaders’ Meeting will help set the priorities for APEC’s work programme across the coming year.
At the conclusion of APEC’s official programme, I will participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations. Australia is committed to progressing the negotiations as a way of strengthening trade and investment ties in the region to deliver better export opportunities for Australian farmers, manufacturers and service suppliers.
Following the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, I will attend the 8th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Brunei from 9-10 October.
The EAS is an annual gathering of the 10 member countries of ASEAN, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.
Together, EAS member countries make up 54.9 per cent of the world’s population and 54.2 per cent of the world’s GDP.
EAS member countries are crucial to Australia’s prosperity: 68 per cent of our total two-way trade is with EAS countries, and nine of Australia’s top ten trading partners are EAS members.
The EAS provides a platform for the region to discuss important security and economic challenges.
6 October 2013