I am delighted to see all of you here for this Seventh APEC Ministerial Meeting.Our host city of Osaka has long been a prosperous trading center and has a long history of unbounded innovation. As such, it is a fitting venue for our two days of discussions. I would thus like to start by paying tribute to the many businesspeople and others in Osaka and vicinity who have, this January's disastrous earthquake notwithstanding, done so much so ably to prepare for our mettings.
It goes without saying that we are gathered here today to open a new chapter in the history of regional cooperation.
Although we share our sense of Asia-Pacific identity, we have very different cultures and histories -- so different that most people did not even think of the Asia Pacific as as coherent region until APEC's founding, and the very concept of the Asia-Pacific community is itself relatively new. This is one of the things that distinguishes APEC from other regional fora.
The concept of Asia-Pacific community has become this widely and firmly accepted in such a short time in large part because of the heightening interdependence generated by our vigorous intra-regional trade and investment. APEC member economies account for a strong 71% of the trade within the region -- a figure that is sharply higher than the EU's 55%. With new and growing markets arising in quick succession and with our sustained high growth rates, the Asia-Pacific region is building upon the active intra-regional movement of goods, and services, and people and is integrating.
This year, APEC's seventh anniversary, is also the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II. The Cold War is over, and today the world in general is in a more peaceful state than before.
Within this post-Cold War climate, the global trading system took a significant step forward this year when the WTO Agreement went into force. The fact that it took seven long years to conclude the Uruguay Round is a proof positive of how very difficult it is to achieve free trade, investment, and services. All the more imperative is it that those of us in APEC demonstrate a new mode of cooperation and further consolidate the momentum for trade and investment expansion achieved in the WTO. Accounting for 48% of the world's GNP and 46% of world trade, we obviously have a very important role to play.
Thus I would like to emphasize our common determination -- the determination for self-improvement.
We who are gathered here today have already made dramatic efforts to deregulate our economies and to lower our tariffs, and the results are evident in the dynamic economic growth that we enjoy. These reforms were not imposed from outside but were initiatives welling up from within ourselves. I believe this is the font of Asia-Pacific dynamism and something we can be proud of.
Today, goods, capital, and people cross borders freely in search of better conditions and a better climate. As such, it might well be said that each of our economies is itself subject to market mechanisms and competes to be more attractive.
Along with our collective actions, Asia-Pacific cooperation demands that we have some kind of framework enabling these self-driven initiatives to have maximum impact and to achieve tangible results. This is a unique effort, but conditions are now right for it and I am confident that we can look forward to great results.
Likewise, balanced development within the region is a challenge for all of us, and APEC has a crucial role to play in economic and technical cooperation for its attainment. Like you, I am hopeful that our efforts in these various fields of cooperation will serve to further enhance the member economies' policies through information exchanges, policy dialogue, and more.
APEC has been working steadily since its founding to institutionalize this cooperation, and it was finally possible last year under Indonesia's leadership to adopt the Bogor Declaration setting forth our vision of and goals for the future. Today, we are embarked upon a new phase of action for the attainment of our vision and goals.
This Ministerial Meeting is an opportunity to take that important first step. It is a very important meeting that will set the tone for APEC for years to come, and how we handle the Action Agenda will be the most tangible measure of our success.
Work on the Action Agenda started early this year with Senior Officials Meetings and Ministerial Meetings in the different areas of concern, tow committees, ten working groups, expert meetings, ad hoc policy groups, and more. A great many people have done a great deal of work in a great number of fora. Executive Director Imanishi tells me that there have been over 150 APEC meetings over the past year alone, and I suspect this is the first time in APEC's history that so many people have worked together so closely for a common goal. My hat is off to everyone who took such great initiative in the various fora.
In addition, we have also received very important recommendations from the Eminent Persons Group and the Pacific Business Forum, and I would like to express our appreciation to these people for their valuable work.
Building upon the hard work and long hours of all of these people, we are gathered here today and tomorrow to discuss APEC's future. I very much hope that our two days of meetings will be fruitful and that the Asia-Pacific's future will be the brighter for our having met.
Thank you.
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