Today I met the 2007 Chair of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), Mr Mark Johnson, and Australian ABAC members, Mr Peter Charlton and Mr Michael Crouch, to receive the 2007 ABAC Report to APEC Leaders. This annual report provides the leaders of APEC economies with the views of the region's business community on issues of key importance to them.
The 2007 ABAC report will make a valuable contribution to APEC Leaders' discussions in Sydney next month. It identifies climate change and energy security as a fundamental issue for the APEC region and welcomes my initiative to put clean development and climate change at the forefront of the APEC Leaders' agenda. ABAC emphasised the key role of business in addressing climate change, particularly through innovation, research and development, and energy efficiency.
The report also underlines the importance to Asia-Pacific businesses of APEC Leaders adopting further measures to liberalise trade and eliminate investment barriers, including by throwing their weight behind efforts to bring the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations to a successful conclusion and exploring alternative ideas to drive market liberalisation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The report highlights regional economic integration, business and labour mobility and