CHAIR’S SUMMARY OF THE MEETING OF THE
ECOTECH SUB-SOMMITTEE
25-26 February 2002
Mexico City, Mexico
The thirteenth meeting of the Ecotech Sub-Committee (ESC) was held in Mexico City, Mexico, from 25-26 February 2002. It was attended by representatives from Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; The People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea, Peru; the Republic of the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the United States; and Viet Nam. The APEC Secretariat and the Lead Shepherds of the FWG and HRD Working Groups also attended. The Official Observers were absent on this occasion. A list of delegates is attached at Annex A.
2.Ambassador Elard Escala of Peru chaired the meeting.
I.Chair’s Opening Remarks
3.The Chair welcomed participants to the meeting, particularly the Lead Shepherd of the FWG, Mr Stetson Tinkham, and that of the HRDWG, Dr Lee Jeong Taik. He noted that last October Leaders reaffirmed the importance of Ecotech in achieving equitable growth and sustainable development and underscored that TILF and Ecotech should be mutually reinforcing. The Chair drew attention to his letter of 17 January in which he had outlined some of the main priorities for this year, including the review of the ESC’s role and mandate. Following the launch of the EAP last year, focusing on HRD, the Chair underscored Leaders’ request for it to be developed further “as an instrument to gauge and encourage Ecotech activities drawing from the experience and lessons learned in the pilot phase.” Members congratulated Ambassador Escala on his assumption as Chair and the Philippines as the Vice-Chair of the ESC.
- Adoption of the Agenda
4.The draft Agenda was approved and is attached as Annex B.
- Business Arrangements
5.The Chair and the Secretariat briefed members on the business arrangements for the meeting.
- Role & Mandate of the ESC
6.The ESC considered issues relating to its role and mandate based on a comprehensive paper Role and Mandate of the ESC (2002/SOM1/ESC/003) prepared by New Zealand. There was agreement that the mandate of the ESC was broad enough for the committee to carry out its work tasked by Ministers. ‘Ecotech’ for the purposes of the ESC’s work was taken to mean all economic and technical cooperation activities undertaken under the APEC umbrella and should not be limited to that which flows from Part II of the OAA.
7.The ESC decided against having a direct role in project formulation or endorsing/ranking working group projects. It felt, however, that there was a need to distill a shorter list of strategic priorities, drawing from the overall categories of Ecotech activities set by Leaders and Ministers. It was agreed that a Small Group, comprising Canada, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and the US, would work intersessionally in consultation with the CTI, to shorten the list of Ecotech objectives and report to the ESC at its meeting in May. The Small Group would also seek to develop a common set of capacity building objectives for APEC covering both the TILF Special Account and the Operational Account Funds. The ESC Chair agreed to advise the CTI Chair of the Small Group’s task and to invite CTI participation.
8.While some felt that retaining the ESC as a sub-committee of the SOM gave it a special status, others felt that renaming it as the Ecotech Committee would bring it into line with the CTI and standardize APEC fora nomenclature. The ESC considered that this and other issues raised in the New Zealand paper were important in shaping its on-going role and that discussion should continue at its next meeting.
- 2002 Work Program
9.Members considered that it was important to include the assessment of Ecotech activities and outcomes into this year’s ESC’s Work Program and to strengthen outreach to the broader community. The draft 2002 Work Program (2002/SOM1/ESC/002 Rev.3) as revised was approved for submission to SOM for endorsement.
10.The Secretariat was asked to put forward a work plan to help members assess the outcome of Ecotech activities and the lessons learned.
- Human Capacity Building Strategy
11.The Chair of the Human Capacity Building Coordinating Group advised that the HCBCG had completed its task with the preparation of the HCB Strategy for the New Economy. He thanked the HRDWG and members for their contributions. Members decided that it was appropriate to submit the strategy to SOM for endorsement, but without the attachment on possible implementation activities as that was considered to go beyond the mandate of Ministers. The attachment, however, would remain as an informal document for consideration by relevant fora during the implementation phase of the strategy.
- Reporting on Progress and Outcomes of Key Directives
VII (i)2002 Taskings
12.Members noted that the attempt last year to have individual members ‘adopt’ a Working Group to oversee the update of OAA Part II was not particularly successful and a more flexible approach was required. Individual ESC members from the economy hosting Working Groups this year agreed to act as focal points for interaction with those fora. Secondly, it was agreed that the CTI Chair and Lead Shepherds of Working Groups would be invited to meet with the ESC from time to time, in order to improve management of APEC’s Ecotech agenda and the reporting of progress in the implementation of key initiatives. In addition, members encouraged the ESC Chair to attend Working Group meetings, as and when feasible. In order to avoid duplicating the Joint Fora process, the US, with the assistance of interested members, agreed to draft a paper for the next meeting on how best interaction with other fora could be managed. The ESC also agreed to seek to play a catalytic role in attracting external funding for Ecotech projects. The HRDWG Lead Shepherd undertook to convey to his members the views of the ESC on interaction with Working Groups and to report back on how collaboration between the two fora could be enhanced.
13.Members noted the increasing reporting burden facing APEC fora and ISTWG’s proposal to prepare one report annually that would consolidate all the information on the group’s activities, from which the Secretariat could draw in preparing the Ecotech report to Ministers. The ISTWG proposal would be reviewed later to see if it could be recommended as a model for other fora to follow.
14.Korea reported on progress in the activities of the APEC Cyber Education Cooperation, which was established under the auspices of the APEC Education Foundation in June 2001 (2002/SOM1/ESC/011). Members noted that an ACEC steering committee had agreed to organise an International Internet Volunteers’ group that would be dispatched to one or two APEC member economies to assist in implementing off-line ICT training for teachers. Members thanked Korea for the briefing and undertook to encourage relevant agencies in their economies to participate in ACEC activities.
15.Korea also advised members that it was hosting a camp in August 2002 for young people with disabilities (2002/SOM1/ESC/012). The camp would, among other things, provide policy direction for people with disabilities and provide an opportunity for participants to exchange information and develop their IT competency.
16.China briefed members on the implementation of the Human Capacity Building Promotion Program, a tripartite program that provides on-line training for 1,500 senior IT professionals, a virtual classroom to support e-Learning in the Asia-Pacific and a cyber forum. China invited nominations to the training course to be submitted to the Steering Committee () by 31 March 2002.
VII. (ii) Ecotech Action Plans
17.Members welcomed the preliminary review by China of the 16 EAPs submitted last year (2002/SOM1/ESC/007). The ESC observed that it was premature to consider expansion of the EAP as it was still in its two-year pilot phase, but felt the opportunity should be taken to improve on the matrix for the presentation of information. A Small Group coordinated by the Philippines and comprising China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore, was established to draw on the lessons learned and to develop an analytical framework for the assessment of EAPs. As there was limited information on how the EAPs were being used, the Secretariat was asked to solicit feedback through the Ecotech Clearing House. In addition, the Lead Shepherd of the HRDWG undertook to have the HRDWG evaluate the available EAPs and report to the ESC at its next meeting.
- Coordination and Management
VIII (i)Partnership Building
18.In response to Ministers’ call for greater interaction with external organisations, the ESC Chair proposed inviting the Director General of UNIDO to the ESC’s next meeting, as a guest speaker, in order to obtain a better appreciation of UNIDO’s activities and to explore cooperative opportunities. With the agreement of members, the Chair undertook to seek SOM’s approval for the invitation.
VIII (ii)Gender Mainstreaming
19.To ensure that gender mainstreaming practices were applied to the ESC’s activities, New Zealand, with the assistance of the Philippines, agreed to act as the Gender Focal Point for this year.
VIII (iii)Ecotech Clearing House
20.Members noted that registrations on the Ecotech Clearing House were still very low and agreed to do their part to encourage greater usage from within their own economies. New Zealand noted that during discussions with the Director-General of the WTO he had bemoaned the lack of information on Ecotech activities. Members were urged to inform their WTO delegation in Geneva of the Ecotech Clearing House and the availability of information through it relating to capacity building projects in support of the WTO. The Secretariat was asked to provide information on the number of hits that the website receives and to distribute a copy of the Ecotech Clearing House CD-ROM to members at the next meeting.
- Disseminating the Benefits of ECOTECH
21.To assist in the coordination of this year’s Ecotech report the following arrangement was adopted:
(a)OAA Part II implementation - Philippines to prepare guidelines for the information required from Working Groups
(b)ECOTECH Action Plans (EAPs) - Small Group, comprising China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines to draw on the lessons learned and to develop an analytical framework for the assessment of EAPs.
(c)Human Capacity Building/Skills Development - HRDWG to report. China to contribute chapter on the implementation of the HCB Promotion Program.
(d)The APEC Education Foundation and the Consortium for APEC Cyber Education Cooperation - Korea to contribute chapter on ACEC and outcome of IT camp for people with disabilities.
(e)Agenda for Science & Technology Industry Cooperation (ASTIC) - APEC Secretariat to coordinate.
(f)SME Integrated Plan of Action (SPAN) - Malaysia to coordinate.
(g)APEC Food System (AFS) - US to prepare overview.
22.The Secretariat agreed to circulate a draft outline of the 2002 Ecotech Report intersessionally, with the drafting responsibilities identified.
23.Members felt the Ecotech report was more for an APEC audience and that there was a need for a separate publication to communicate better the Ecotech story to the broader community. Thailand agreed to update the booklet Making APEC Matter to People through Ecotech it had prepared in 2000.
24.Thailand considered that it was important to have an annual workshop on Ecotech to allow the ESC to widen APEC’s contact with other institutions and to receive a broader view on Ecotech. Mexico agreed to explore the possibility of conducting such a workshop this year, perhaps in the margin of SOM III. Thailand agreed to work with interested members to develop objectives and themes for the workshop.
- Group on Economic Infrastructure
25.The GEI Chair reported that at the GEI meeting on 24 February, members expressed doubt about the group’s continued viability. It was observed that the number of economies participating in activities had progressively shrunk since the GEI was re-constituted with a new mandate under the ESC. In addition, the number of economies proposing activities in response to the mandate and specific tasking, such as the AFS, had also diminished. A Task Force, co-chaired by Indonesia and Mexico and supported by Canada and the US, had been established to examine which of its activities could be carried out by related fora or what other work could form the basis for a re-energised group. The Task Force would report back to the group by the first week of May and the recommendations would be presented for ESC and SOM’s consideration at SOM II. The GEI Chair advised that last year’s work program was still in place and no new work program for 2002 had been developed.
- Other Business
i)Meeting Documents
26.Members agreed to the public release of all the meeting documents.
ii)Next Meeting
27.Members agreed to meet next in Mérida, Mexico, on.21-22 May 2002.
ECOTECH SUB-SOMMITTEE MEETING
25-26 February 2002, Mexico City, Mexico
Action Arising
Para #
/ Action By / Task / Due12 / Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, US / To act as Focal Points for interactions with APEC fora. / On-going
7 / Canada, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, US / To shorten the list of Ecotech objectives / May 2002
21 / China / To contribute a chapter on the implementation of the HCB Promotion Program for the 2002 Ecotech report. / Jul 2002
17 / China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines. / To develop an analytical framework for the assessment of EAPs / May 2002
7 / ESC Chair / To advise the CTI Chair of the Small Group’s work on developing a common set of capacity building objectives and to invite CTI participation. / Mar 2002
18 / ESC Chair / To invite DG of UNIDO to next ESC meeting / Mar 2002
12 / HRDWG Lead Shepherd / To report back on how best interaction with the HRDWG can be enhanced. / May 2002
17 / HRDWG Lead Shepherd / To report back on the HRDWG’s assessment of the EAPs / May 2002
21 / Korea / To contribute chapter on ACEC and outcome of IT camp for people with disabilities for the 2002 Ecotech report / Jul 2002
21 / Malaysia / To coordinate reporting on implementation of the SPAN for the 2002 Ecotech report / Jul 2002
24 / Mexico / To report back on feasibility of conducting a workshop on Ecotech at SOM III. / May 2002
19 / New Zealand, Philippines / To act as the Gender Focal Points / On-going
21 / Philippines / To develop guidelines for the reporting by Working Groups on the implementation of OAA Part II / Mar 2002
10 / Secretariat / Prepare work plan for evaluation of Ecotech activities. / May 2002
17 / Secretariat / To invite comments on the EAPs through the Information Exchange facility of the Ecotech Clearing House / Mar 2002
20 / Secretariat / To provide information on the number of hits the Ecotech Clearing House receives and a copy of the CD-ROM. / May 2002
21 / Secretariat / To coordinate reporting on ASTIC for the 2002 Ecotech report / Jul 2002
22 / Secretariat / To circulate draft outline of 2002 Ecotech Report with drafting responsibilities / Mar 2002
23 / Thailand / To update the ‘green’ booklet on Ecotech activities / Oct 2002
24 / Thailand plus interested members / To develop objectives and themes for the proposed Ecotech workshop / May 2002
12 / US / To draft paper on how best interaction with other fora can be managed. / May 2002
21 / US / To prepare AFS review / Jul 2002
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