The Seventh APEC Finance Ministers Meeting in Brunei Darussalam (9-10 September) issued a call for appropriate increases in supplies of oil and emphasised the risks to the world economy of oil price volatility.
There was vigorous exchange of views on progress in reform of the international financial architecture, and the meeting noted the need for continuing structural reform of domestic economies.
Trade liberalisation remains central to the achievement of sustainable increases in economic growth. At the same time, the benefits of trade liberalisation can be fully realised only with on-going structural reform, including reform of social safety nets. Finance Ministers have undertaken a wide range of measures aimed at promoting good governance, transparency and better prudential supervision. At the meeting they reaffirmed their commitment to persevere with this ambitious agenda of structural reforms and capacity building.
APEC work has helped to identify priority reforms and to facilitate progress in these areas. At the meeting I reported on two new Australian led APEC initiatives one to improve the regulation of the life insurance industry in the region, and the other to improve financial and accounting disclosure.
The Australian work in APEC last year to promote reform of insolvency regimes is now being carried forward by Indonesia with Australian assistance. As I promised at the previous APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Langkawi, Malaysia, Australia has delivered well-received corporate governance training programmes. New Zealand is now leading work forward to set up a policy dialogue to encourage reform of corporate governance.
New Zealand is also leading another important initiative to examine the best policies for liberalising capital markets while maintaining stability.
APEC remains a useful forum for discussing progress in the reform of international architecture. Canada, as chair of the G20, was able to inform regional economies of recent developments.
The APEC Financiers Group and the APEC Business Advisory Council also gave their views to Finance Ministers. ABAC provided a useful perspective on the promotion of international standards in financial markets. ABACs made a constructive proposal for the creation of a regional grouping of company directors to promote better corporate governance.