APEC Declaration on the Uruguay Round, Seoul, Nov 14, 1991

Abstract

Ministers from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and the United States met in Seoul on 12-14 November 1991 and addressed, as the number one priority of the APEC Agenda, the current status of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. The Ministers declared a successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round to be the most critical economic issue facing the international community. Recalling the Singapore Declaration on the Uruguay Round, the Ministers underlined the significance for each of their economies and to the Asia-Pacific region of an open and strengthened multilateral trading system. The Ministers emphasised that a major and significant outcome to the Round is necessary to underpin the growth of world trad e, to forestall protectionist pressure, to instill confidence in markets and to facilitate the continuation of economic reform in the region and elsewhere. The Ministers welcomed recent signs of movement in key areas of the negotiations and called for further progress in Agriculture, Textiles and Clothing, Services, Market Access, Rule-Making and Intellectual Property, leading to a balanced, comprehensive and substantial result. The Ministers declared that a successful Round must include substantial liberalisation of trade in both goods and services, based on strengthened rules and disciplines in the multilateral trading system. The Ministers expressed their firm resolve to show the necessary flexibility and to take, as soon as possible, the political decisions needed to assemble a detailed package by the end of this year.