Subject:
APEC Meeting; proposed pulp mill; drugs in sport.
E&OE...
PRIME MINISTER:
The APEC Meeting is undeniably the most important international meeting ever to have been held in Australia. The countries that comprise APEC represent eight out of 10 of Australia's top trading partners. Total trade with APEC economies was worth about $250 billion in 2006 and that represents 70 per cent of our total trade. So the first and most important point to be made is that APEC is hugely significant to Australia, both from an economic point of view and also from a strategic and security point of view. To have simultaneously here in Sydney the Presidents of the United States, Russia, China, Indonesia and the Prime Minister of Japan is an extraordinary event and it does represent an opportunity for this country to be displayed to the world and most particularly to our region. So I see this meeting optimistically and positively, I see this as an opportunity for the modern, sophisticated Australia through its largest city, undeniably the most beautiful, big city in the world, this country to be paraded for the modern, sophisticated, tolerant, multi-racial society that it is. And that is the mindset that I will bring to this meeting.
The bread and butter of APEC of course is trade and economic interchange. The other great advantage of APEC is it affords an unrivalled opportunity for bilateral exchanges. The fact that the President of the United States will spend four days in Sydney, a very lengthy period to be in one country, indicates that he will see the APEC Meeting in Sydney as a marvellous opportunity for bilateral discussions not only with me but also of course with the Russian President and the Chinese President and other APEC Leaders. It will incidentally be the first time ever that a Russian or before the modern Russian era, Soviet head of State or head of Government has ever visited Australia.
Now I have put climate change on the agenda and it will be an important item, but it won't be the only item but because of the rare conjunction of events, given that this meeting is taking place before another major economies meeting that the President has convened in Washington at the end of this month and also the United Nations Meeting in Bali this meeting is particularly apposite and particularly relevant to issues of climate change.
We must be realistic about what can be achieved on climate change. We won't reach agreement, nor do we imagine for a moment that we could reach agreement on binding targets amongst the member countries of APEC. The developing countries have made that clear and for very understandable reasons. But we can reach a framework agreement if we work hard enough on the shape of a post-Kyoto approach to the international response to climate change. And that can be built on a recognition that different countries come to their contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in different ways and it is patently absurd to try and impose a top-down approach on countries having such diverse needs as say China, on the one hand a developing country but a powerful economy and some of the economies of Europe and indeed the economies of the United States and Australia. You've got to remember that developing countries account for around half of global emissions and they will account for three-quarters of the projected increase in emissions up to the year 2030.
We do not believe that continuing down the Kyoto path is going to provide a solution to the problem. We think that will be a recipe for a partial and ultimately ineffective response to a growing problem. What I would like to see the APEC Meeting in Sydney do is develop a consensus on a post-Kyoto international framework that attracts participation by all emitters. And if we just have a singular focus at this meeting as some are naively urging on binding targets, that will just postpone the development of that agreement by years.
We have to recognise that the economic and social aspirations of all APEC economies in reaching a consensus on what to do and that means working constructively, recognising the different needs and different interests of the various countries. Our view is that we need a new flexible framework that includes a long term global goal and encourages a wide range of natural actions by all with ongoing review processes. And we will seek to balance at this meeting the level of ambition and realism proposed for agreement to the leaders this week.
In that context, in that spirit, I want to announce several Australian initiatives in the area of climate change, energy security and clean development. Firstly we propose to fund $5 million for a major energy technology research conference in Australia in 2008 in support of our proposal for an Asia Pacific Network for Energy Technology, and that is designed to accelerate the development of low emissions technologies.
Secondly I commit a further contribution from Australia of $50 million to the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate to fund large scale clean technology projects in addition to the 63 projects already supported through our initial contribution of $100 million. This initiative, the APP is important because it includes major developed and developing regional economies accounting for half of global greenhouse gas emissions, energy use GDP and world population.
Thirdly, we will provide $15.7 million over four years for an Asia Pacific Forestry Skills and Capacity Building Program to assist countries to increase forest management expertise and improve the carbon sequestration performance of their forests. This reflects the importance we attach to forestry practices and management in providing for carbon sinks.
Finally, I am pleased to launch today a report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Research Economics entitled