WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/542
24 October 2003
(03-5629)
Original:  English
BANGKOK DECLARATION ON PARTNERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE
Bangkok, Thailand
21 October 2003
Communication from Thailand
The following Declaration from the 11th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, held in Bangkok,
Thailand on 21 October 2003, has been received from the Permanent Mission of Thailand.
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BANGKOK DECLARATION ON PARTNERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE
1. We gathered in Bangkok for the 11th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting to combine our
diverse strengths to meet the challenges facing our  region.  In line with APEC’s theme for this year,
“A World of Differences:  Partnership for the Futu re,” and its sub-themes, following our interactive
and meaningful exchange of views, we agreed that strong partnership is vital in order to achieve the
goals we set out in Bogor.  To realize our vision amidst the rapidly changing international
environment, we agreed to strengthen our partnership not only to liberalize and facilitate regional
trade and investment, but also to protect our peoples and societies against threats to their security,
while preparing them to benefit fully from free and open trade.  By taking these steps, we can realize
the APEC vision, established by Leaders in 1993, of “achieving stability, security and prosperity for
our peoples.”
1. Promoting Trade and Investment Liberalization
2. We reaffirmed the primacy of the multilateral trading system, and agreed that the Doha
Development Agenda (DDA) offers the potential for real gains for all economies, particularlydeveloping economies, in the areas of agricultural reform, improved market access for goods and
services, and clarification and improvement of trade disciplines.  We lent our strong support for
continuing the valuable work done at the Cancun Ministerial Conference to advance the DDA.  We
agreed that for global free trade to flourish, regional and bilateral free trade agreements must be
consistent with WTO principles, advance WTO objectives and contribute to the Bogor Goals.
3. To advance the DDA and the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment, as well as
their supporting conditions, we agreed to:
- Press for an ambitious and balanced ou tcome to the DDA, re iterating that the
development dimension is at its core.
- Re-energize the negotiation process, building on Chairman Derbez’s text of
13 September 2003, recognizing that flexibility and political will are urgently needed
to move the negotiations toward a successful conclusion.WT/L/542
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- Work towards the abolition of all forms of agricultural export subsidies, unjustifiable
export prohibitions and restrictions, and commit ourselves to work in the negotiating
group on rules in accordance with the Doha mandate.
- Advance free trade in a coordinated manner among multilateral, regional and bilateral
frameworks so that they are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
- Extend our continued support for the early accession of the Russian Federation and
Viet Nam to the WTO.
- Continue APEC’s work on WTO capacity and confidence building in areas where
APEC can best add value, while reviewing past performance to improve itseffectiveness.
- Instruct Ministers to take concrete steps to make APEC's trade agenda more
supportive of the work of the WTO and report on their progress in 2004.
- Work with the APEC Business Adviso ry Council (ABAC) and the business
community to continue to implement the Shanghai Accord and Los Cabos directives
to facilitate business activity in the APEC region, including the reduction of
transaction costs 5% by the year 2006.
- Advance all pathfinder initiatives, including the APEC Sectoral Food MRA and
Digital Economy Statement to, e.g., stop optical disk piracy and allow technology
choice for business.
- Fight corruption, a major obstacle to social and economic development, by working
in 2004 to develop specific domestic actions to combat it.  Promote transparency by
implementing our general and area-specific transparency standards through our
Transparency by 2005 Strategy.
2. Enhancing Human Security
4. We agreed that transnational terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
pose direct and profound challenges to APEC’s visi on of free, open and prosperous economies.  We
agreed to dedicate APEC not only to advancing the prosperity of our economies, but also to the
complementary mission of ensuring the security of our people.
5. We therefore committed at Bangkok to take all essential actions to:
- Dismantle, fully and without delay, transnational terrorist groups that threaten the
APEC economies.
- Eliminate the severe and growing danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction and their means of delivery by strengthening international non-
proliferation regimes, adopting and enforcing effective export controls, and taking
other legitimate and appropriate measures against proliferation.
- Confront other direct threats to the security of our region.
6. We pledged to discuss at each Leaders’ Meeting our progress toward these security
commitments, and to take specific actions in pursuit of them.WT/L/542
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7. We agreed this year to:
- Strengthen our joint efforts to curb terrorist threats against mass transportation and
confront the threat posed by terrorists’ acquisition and use of Man-Portable Air
Defense Systems (MANPADS) against international aviation by committing to: adopt
strict domestic export controls on MANPADS; secure stockpiles; take domesticaction to regulate production, transfer, and brokering; ban transfers to non-state end-
users; and exchange information in support of these efforts.  We agreed to continue
efforts to strengthen domestic controls on MANPADS and to review our progress
next year in Chile.
- Increase and better coordinate our counter-terrorism activities, where appropriate,
through effective collaboration, technical assistance and capacity building, andcooperation between APEC’s Counter Terror ism Task Force, the Counter Terrorism
Action Group (CTAG) of the G-8, the United Nations Security Council Counter
Terrorism Committee and other relevant international, regional and functional
organizations.
- Implement the APEC Action Plan on SARS and our Health Security Initiative to help
APEC prevent and respond to regional health  threats, including naturally-occurring
infectious disease and bio-terrorism.  We welcomed the establishment by Singapore
and the United States of a Regional Emerging Disease Intervention (REDI) Center.
We encouraged the Life Sciences Innovation Forum to complete its strategic plan by2004.
- Establish a regional trade and financial security initiative within the Asian
Development Bank, to support projects that enhance port security, combat terrorist
finance, and achieve other counter-terrorism objectives.
- Support implementation of the Advance Passenger Information (API) System
pathfinder initiative and efforts to explore development of a regional movement alert
system to protect air travellers.
- Accelerate the implementation of the Energy Security Initiative by endorsing its
Implementation Plan and, as appropriate, a new Action Plan to enhance regional andglobal energy security.
3. Using APEC to Help People and Societies Benefit from Globalization
8. Sustainable economic development requires empowering people and strengthening societies
for globalization.  In this regard, we welcomed efforts to increase APEC's contribution to this processby:  making it more effective; better focusing and strengthening its work on economic and technical
cooperation; and increasing its interaction with international financial institutions, the private sector,
and other outside organizations.  This will make APEC’s work more effective in bridging the gap
between developed and developing economies.
9. To create the conditions that allow peoples and societies to make the most of their potential
and prepare for the challenges of the future, we agreed to:
- Strengthen efforts to empower people and societies, including women and youth, to
integrate into the global economy.  We underlined the importance of strengthening
small and medium enterprises and micro enterprises, of social safety nets in
promoting sustainable and equitable economic development, and of mainstreamingWT/L/542
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the informal sector.  We welcomed the outcomes of the meetings of APEC Finance
and SME Ministers in this regard and instructed Ministers to coordinate on micro
enterprise financing and capacity building initiatives, in collaboration with
international financial institutions and other relevant parties, in order to leverage
resources for implementation of the Micro-Enterprises Action Plan in 2004.
- Step up efforts to build knowledge-based economies.  We instructed Ministers to
accelerate progress towards the Brunei Goals on expanding Internet access,
improvement of intellectual property rights facilitation, protection and enforcement,
and implementation of the e-APEC Strategy, in partnership with relevant
stakeholders.  We voiced support for science and technology innovation, the
upgrading of English-language and computer skills among the workforce for effectiveuse of the Internet, advancing cyber-education and ICT capacity building, including
for small and micro enterprises.
- Strengthen regional efforts to promote sound and efficient financial systems and
fundamentals.  We urged further cooperation on development of domestic andregional bond markets, as well as securitization and credit guarantee markets to
enhance the efficiency of those markets.  We support issuance of new financial
products, including long-term, local currency-denominated debt instruments,
derivatives and asset-backed securities.
- Accelerate structural reform in the APEC region.  We reiterated APEC’s strong
political commitment to continued structural reform to ensure sustainable economic
growth and development in the Asia-Pacific region.  We welcomed the adoption of
the APEC Structural Reform Action Plan that includes strengthening economic legal
infrastructure as a guiding working program and instructed Ministers to reviewimplementation of this Action Plan and identify future initiatives.
- Strengthen APEC.  We discussed the need to make APEC more efficient and
responsive to all stakeholders.  We instructed Ministers to explore the issue and
report on progress by the time we meet in Chile in 2004.
We endorsed in full the conclusions of a nd the Joint Statement agreed by Ministers at
the Fifteenth APEC Ministerial Meeting.
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