Speech to the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum On the Report by Singapore on Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2009.

_{19 January, 2010}

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Thank you to our Singapore colleague for the report on the historic APEC meetings held late in 2009 and to Singapore also for its Chairmanship of APEC. 

APEC, now 20 years old, comprises 21 members and, between them, they account for approximately 60 per cent of global income and 2.5 billion consumers. It is fair to say that APEC has been a key driver of prosperity in the region and, arguably, has been a contributor to global prosperity. A recent study has shown that members of APEC are associated with higher trade volumes—not only amongst APEC members but also between members and non-members. APEC member countries are also more open to foreign investment than are other countries on average.

APEC’s role—focused on trade and investment liberalisation, business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation—has perhaps never been more important than it is now, during our emergence from the global recession.

As a Parliamentary Forum we must continue to urge cooperation with the World Trade Organization, and we must also reaffirm our commitment to capacity building to assist members to reach the Bogor Goals and we need to strive for a conclusion of the Doha Round this year

I note and welcome the emphasis APEC Economic Ministers placed in November on resisting protectionism and ensuring markets remain open.

All of us, including Australia, have to be vigilant in resisting domestic pressures to embark on protection under the guise of technological advances or other subterfuges.

For Australia, and I am sure for other colleagues at this meeting, membership of APEC expands our focus beyond our domestic markets. It gives us and other member countries, opportunities to create jobs and income through increased access to regional markets.

One of the continuing challenges of the world, is food security for without food all other pressing issues become academic.  This Forum and other Forums particularly APEC, must highlight the need for all people to have an adequate supply of safe and nutritious food – a challenge that becomes even greater as a changing climate and different land use and increasing population, and thoughts about bio energy, impact on the supply of basic foods.

I am pleased to see that APEC Economic Ministers under the Chairmanship of the Singaporean Foreign Affairs Minister and the Singaporean Trade & Industry Ministers, in their Joint Statement in November 2009, particularly mentioned the need to improve food security and strengthen food safety.

The surge in world food prices—particularly rice, wheat, soybeans, maize and palm oil—since 2008 has had a grave impact, particularly on developing economies. The obvious initial impact is one of increased poverty but other implications are for budgetary pressures on governments and even social division and ultimately terrorism.

The UN estimates that in 2005-06, some 16 per cent of people in the Asia Pacific region (542 million people) were going hungry. When food prices rose suddenly in 2007, approximately 582 million people were considered to be going hungry. Monitoring food security also involves estimating the proportion of children who are underweight for their age. In the Asia Pacific region, it is estimated that around 1.9 million children die each year because of causes relating to malnutrition, and inadequate access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation.

There can be little doubt about the need to continue to supply emergency food aid where that is needed, but the long-term response must be to cooperate to offer assistance in agriculture and rural development and to press on with negotiations to reduce and end distortions in agricultural production and food trade which hamper the development of more efficient food production and supply flows.

Climate change adaptation, and environmentally sustainable land use and agriculture, will assist to provide food security to the world as will the efficient management of water resources. Donor agencies, the UN and the World Bank are working to provide practical support that will boost agricultural production and increase investment in agriculture in developing countries. What is essential, however, is that economic and trade policies are effective and that markets are efficient and open, so that supply flows are not impeded or obstructed. APEC members’ capacity to contribute to this objective is very clear.

It behoves nations in APEC to carefully look for new opportunities for the production of food which will need better use of available land and water supplies – something my own country of Australia has to address more significantly in the years ahead.  I come from Northern Australia, that part of Australia closest to our Asian and Pacific neighbours and opportunity abound to produce more food to share with many countries struggling to feed their poor.

APEC has continued with immediate and practical initiatives and further work will be taken on capacity- building projects and policy development. I understand that our colleagues in Japan will be reviewing APEC’s own food security activities and it will be useful to consider their findings. The Singapore APEC meetings also noted the importance of efficient, regulated technologies for storage, transport and distribution of food and, beyond that, to the promotion of efficient, sustainable markets and trade policies.

The current food crisis has gained global attention because it is an emergency. But the issue of food security is about production and access and these issues regrettably do not enjoy a high enough media profile. The challenge for us now will be to ensure that the current crisis is not treated as an emergency, to be addressed with short-term fixes, and then forgotten, but that the opportunity is taken to improve agricultural production and food supply to enable real food security.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this debate and again congratulations and thanks to Singapore on its Report on Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2009.

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