President Ma Ying-jeou, in the company of Vice President Vincent C. Siew, met on the morning of November 8 at the Presidential Office with Taiwan's delegation to the upcoming 2010 APEC Economic Leaders' Week. The president, on behalf of the public, expressed his appreciation and support to National Policy Foundation Chairman Lien Chan, who will serve as his representative for the third time at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.
President Ma noted that this year's APEC meetings will be held in Yokohama, Japan, and will focus on the theme of "Change and Action." Delegates will carry out a first-stage assessment of progress toward achievement of the Bogor Goals formulated several years ago, namely the establishment of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. The president said the timing of this meeting is especially meaningful as it comes in the wake of Taiwan and mainland China signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and amid strong interest among many Asia-Pacific nations in Taiwan's future economic development, as well as trade liberalization issues within APEC.
The president stated that APEC members have expressed a high level of concern about climate change and the prevention of natural disasters. He said that the ROC can share its experiences in this regard with other nations. He added that the ROC would also like to further make a contribution to APEC through the APEC Digital Opportunity Center initiative that it has advocated.
Chairman Lien remarked that this year's meetings will be critical as both a review of APEC's past efforts as well as its future prospects. Besides examining progress toward the objectives set out in the Bogor Declaration—liberalization, regional economic integration, and progress on security issues such as food and anti-terrorism—the host nation this year, Japan, has put five issues on the table for discussion, including balanced growth, inclusive growth, sustainable growth, innovative growth, and secure growth, he said.
Chairman Lien added that Taiwan's economic growth over the past few quarters has already felt the preliminary benefits of the cross-strait ECFA. Meanwhile, Taiwan has consistently been an active participant in APEC-related activities in the areas of information technology and small- and medium-sized enterprises, and will continue to make contributions in this regard, he said.
The delegation to the APEC Economic Leaders' Week was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Chin-tien Yang to meet President Ma and Vice President Siew. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Secretary-General Hu Wei-jen.