1. The 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting took place in Bali, Indonesia, on October 4 and 5.

º The Meeting brought together the Foreign and Trade Ministers from the 21 APEC member economies and the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

2. At the Meeting, the Ministers engaged in discussions on: APEC and the evolving economic integration in the region; support for the multilateral trade regime and the attainment of the Bogor Goals; the promotion of connectivity; and the achievement of sustainable growth with equity, and adopted a Joint Ministerial Statement.

º With regard to economic integration in the region, the delegates from the APEC member economies discussed ways to conclude an FTA of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), a long-term vision of APEC, in the midst of the increase in negotiations on and conclusion of FTAs with differing provisions.

- Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se stressed that: regional economic integration efforts, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), should be neither mutually competitive nor mutually exclusive; and such agreements should not be a stumbling block to but a building block for the envisioned FTAAP, a view well received by other participants. US Secretary of State John Kerry commended the Minister’s remarks as most significant comment.

- Minister Yun noted that when such agreements are open and mutually harmonious, they can serve as the groundwork of the FTAAP, allowing the Asia-Pacific region to fully reach its growth potential and gain strategic superiority.

- He added that in order to conclude the FTAAP, the parties concerned should learn about and share the progress in negotiations on other FTAs in the region, -- including the one among the ROK, China, and Japan -- their similarities and differences, and work to narrow the gap of FTA related capabilities of those economies. 

- Minister Yun pointed out that without the aforementioned efforts, agreements with different provisions on investment, intellectual property rights, and the country of origin could hinder the envisioned FTAAP.

º With respect to the promotion of connectivity, the APEC member economies shared the view that they should lay a foundation for economic growth and accelerate regional integration by enhancing physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity in the APEC region. They agreed to draw up ways to attract investment from the private sector in the development of infrastructure and strengthen cross-border cooperation on education.

- Minister Yun pointed out that in order to make the FTAAP a reality in the Asia-Pacific region, where countries face different geographical and economic situations, the region should expand infrastructure to promote connectivity and thereby create an environment conducive to the FTAAP. He shared the ROK’s experience where infrastructure construction played a significant role in its economic development process.

- The Minister brought attention to the need to deal with each part of the connectivity in a comprehensive way and won support from other participants. He highlighted, for example, the need to boost people-to-people connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region by expanding exchanges of students and researchers and facilitating the mobility of relief personnel and supplies in the event of large-scale disasters.

3. By attending the Meeting, the ROK proposed ways to create an environment that facilitates more smooth trade, the key factor in its economic growth, as well as specific ways for discussions on bilateral and trilateral FTAs, the TPP and the RCEP to lead to the conclusion of the FTAAP. Furthermore, it laid a foundation for Korean companies’ entry into the infrastructure market in Asia.

                   Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation