Ambassador Tai’s Statement On The APEC Trade Ministers’ Meeting

Issued by the 2023 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting

Detroit, The United States, 26 May 2023

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai shared with APEC ministers her statement capturing the policy priorities discussed and agreed throughout the two-day meeting in Detroit, the United States.

Read the 2023 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Statement of the Chair

As the Chair of the 2023 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, Ambassador Tai’s statement highlights the importance of advancing sustainable and inclusive trade and investment and collective support of the multilateral trading system and the necessary reform to improve all the World Trade Organization’s functions.

The statement also reflects Ministers’ commitment to remain engaged in overcoming shared challenges related to the environment, food security, supply chain disruptions and impacts of the global pandemic. It also encourages the promotion of trade and investment in products that lead to positive environmental outcomes.

Reiterating commitments made by Ministers, the statement instructs senior officials to start developing a new, voluntary, non-binding reference list of environmental goods.

The statement describes ministers’ commitment to strengthen physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity as well as the need to take advantage of digital connectivity, and to intensify efforts to promote regional, sub-regional and remote area connectivity through quality infrastructure development and investment.

Recognizing the importance of trade in services as well as the role of digital technology and innovation in advancing inclusive and sustainable growth, the statement includes two annexes that will advance APEC’s work in these sectors:

Read Annex 1: Principles for the Interoperability of Electronic Invoicing Systems in the APEC Region

Read Annex 2: APEC Non-Binding Guidelines on Services that Support the Clean-up of Marine Debris

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