The United States of America today welcomed the foreign and economic ministers, the officials and representatives from APEC’s member economies, and the international organizations of 2011 APEC Leaders Meeting.
In her remarks at APEC Ministerial Kickoff, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today said the United States is proud to serve as host of this year’s APEC Leaders Meeting.
“Global trends and world events have given us a full and formidable agenda, and the stakes are high for all of us. We are each trying to generate balanced, inclusive, sustainable growth that delivers good jobs for our citizens; economic, social, and environmental progress for our nations; and shared prosperity for this region.” -Ms. Clinton
She said that to accomplish these goals, world leaders have to create a rules-based system that is open, free, transparent, and fair. She said working to make that system a reality has been the focus of all of their meetings this year, in Washington; in Big Sky, Montana; in San Francisco; and now in Hawaii.
“We’ve made tangible progress in three areas. First, integrating markets and expanding trade. We have focused on what we call next-generation issues – for example, by working to help owners of small and medium-sized businesses reach new customers beyond their borders.” -Ms. Clinton
She noted that the world has made progress in promoting green growth. She said countries have advanced a trade initiative for environmental goods and services which will help spur industries investing in green growth. Most States as have worked to reduce inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, which will help protect the environment by reducing the wasteful consumption of fossil fuels.
“Third, deepening our regulatory cooperation and convergence. In recent years, we have seen how improvements in this area can unleash billions of dollars in commercial activities. For example, when a majority of APEC countries adopted a uniform safety standard for televisions in 2005, exports for the region increased by 45 percent over the subsequent three years.” -Ms. Clinton
Ms. Clinton also announced today that the United States will begin issuing APEC business travel cards to eligible U.S. citizens in the near future.
“We reaffirmed – or we affirmed the San Francisco Declaration, which lays out a roadmap for how the APEC economies can and will maximize women’s contributions toward economic growth.” -Ms. Clinton
