APEC Meetings an Opportunity for Progress on Doha Round

SEATTLE--Nov. 9, 2005--Corporate members of the National Center for APEC call on APEC Trade Ministers to take bold and concerted steps to achieve progress on the Doha Round during next week's APEC Summit meetings in Busan, South Korea. National Center members hope to see added momentum and energy toward completion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks under the WTO during the trade talks in Busan. The APEC meetings provided the necessary impetus for progress in stalled talks during a critical juncture in the negotiation of the Uruguay Round of global trade talks in 1993. Once again APEC will have its annual Leaders meeting just before a pivotal global trade meeting, the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December. The National Center believes that the upcoming APEC meetings will provide a critical dialogue for a positive, ambitious, and forward-looking outcome at the Hong Kong Ministerial.

"APEC economies make up a third of the world's population and 60% of global GDP and trade," says M.R. Dinsmore, Co-Chairman of the National Center for APEC and CEO of the Port of Seattle. "With the critical mass represented by the APEC economies, agreement among these economies could provide a badly-needed push for progress on Doha. The benefits of a successful Doha Round -- new jobs, economic development and growth to improve infrastructure and social welfare globally -- will be conditioned upon achieving a comprehensive package of measures that reduce barriers to international trade and investment."

While much remains to be discussed about the substance and scope of the recent US and EU proposals, it is now up to other major trading powers, including many among the APEC economies, to put forward their counter-offers in equally significant areas of reducing tariffs on manufactured products and opening of markets in the services sector. In order for governments to successfully sustain the pace of global economic growth it is vital that WTO members work together to build a comprehensive package of measures that reduce the barriers to international trade and investment across all sectors.

By bringing together key officials and business leaders from the 21 economies of the Asia Pacific region, the upcoming APEC meetings in Busan, South Korea, provide an opportunity for these economies to forge a positive approach for the advancement of the Doha Round. The National Center's Vice Chairman for Policy, G. Mustafa Mohatarem of General Motors Corporation, adds, "The successful completion of the Doha Agenda will boost global growth, especially growth in poor developing countries."

The National Center for APEC is a private business association established to generate and stimulate U.S. support for and participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization, with the objective of liberalizing trade and investment in the region. With the support of 35 US corporations, the National Center for APEC views the upcoming APEC meetings as a key forum in moving the Doha Round forward; it is critical that the APEC economies confirm the Doha Round as a single, ambitious undertaking, in which progress is made within and between sectors.

                       NATIONAL CENTER FOR APEC
                          BOARD MEMBER FIRMS


Agilent Technologies, Inc.               Microsoft Corporation
Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.           New York Life, International
Alticor, Inc.                            NIKE, Inc.
American Seafoods Group                  Oracle Corporation
Applied Materials, Inc.                  Port of Seattle
BearingPoint                             Procter & Gamble
Cargill, Inc.                            Real Networks 
Chevron Corporation                      Savi Technology
Citigroup                                SSA Marine
Federal Express                          Starbucks Coffee Company
Fluor Corporation                        Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Ford Motor Corporation                   The Boeing Company
Frank Russell Company                    The Chubb Corporation
General Motors                           Time Warner, Inc.
Hewlett-Packard Company                  United Parcel Service
IBM, Inc.                                Visa International
Johnson & Johnson                        Weyerhaeuser Company
Merck & Co., Inc.