Experts from Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) met at the APEC Trade Facilitation Symposium 2007 held in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Director-General of Trade and Industry, Mr. Joseph Lai, was pleased to see that fellow APEC economies were all moving, in the same direction to facilitate trade, through approaches suitable to their individual circumstances.

Mr. Lai noted that a commonality amongst APEC economies was the effect being made to maintain a right balance between facilitating trade and protecting overall public interest through the use of risk management and advanced technologies.

There were also increased efforts by APEC economies to reduce red tapes and to integrate procedures through better use of information technologies, added Mr. Lai.

On movement of goods, APEC representatives shared their experience in achieving the common goals of reduced paperwork and enhancement of risk management. Participants all agreed that IT development played a vital role in reducing paperwork in customs clearance and hence the time needed to move goods across borders.

On business mobility, discussions were carried out on how the APEC economies could improve the operation of the system, by reducing the lead time for processing applications and increasing the transparency of the procedures.

Participants agreed that security and anti-fraud features of identity and travel document contributed significantly to confidence building.

APEC has 21 member economies - Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Republic of Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Republic of the Philippines; the Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States and Vietnam.