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You Are Here: Home > APEC Groups > Committee on Trade and Investment > Automotive Dialogue
 
 
Automotive Dialogue  

The automotive industry is a vital sector of global trade. In recent years, automotive products have accounted for ten percent of global merchandise trade. The APEC Automotive Dialogue (AD) serves as a forum for APEC Member Economy officials and senior industry representatives to work together to map out strategies for increasing the integration and development of the automotive sector within the region. The AD was also established in recognition of the crosscutting nature of the automotive industry and the broad benefits to many economies of trade liberalization and facilitation in this sector. APEC public-private sector dialogues are seen as a way of improving mutual understanding, aiding policy development and enhancing the competitiveness of the sectors concerned.

AD participants discuss the current status of the automotive sector in the Asia-Pacific region, identify barriers to growth, and develop effective cooperation mechanisms for APEC economies to address and reduce these impediments.

The goals of the AD are to engage participants in cooperative efforts to foster the growth and development of the regional auto industry and to provide recommendations for action to APEC Trade Ministers. In 2008, active members included Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Viet Nam and the United States.

The AD first met in 1999 in Indonesia and has continued to meet every year since then.

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Achievements

An APEC Automotive Dialogue Road Safety Summit was held in Adelaide, Australia in March 2007. The summit brought together road safety planners, representatives from transportation regulatory bodies and auto industry executives to look at ways to improve road safety. Topics included road safety and its economic and public health implications. It resulted in a range of recommendations aimed at curbing the rising road death toll in the region being presented to APEC Transportation Ministers at their annual meeting.

Transportation Ministers endorsed the recommendations in their 2007 Joint Ministerial Statement. Ministers agreed to work with other authorities in each economy to ensure that each APEC economy has a comprehensive road safety strategy, and agreed to share knowledge and resources across economies through the APEC Transportation Working Group, particularly with a view to enabling implementation of further road safety initiatives in low and middle income APEC economies.


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Current Activities

The 10th meeting of the AD was held in Singapore from 9 to 12 September 2008. Participants considered: the development of FTA model measures for the automotive industry, including opportunities for increased harmonization of preferential rules of origin; support for SME development; opportunities for increased regional economic integration; the use of advanced technologies to transform the automotive industry; the development of harmonized standards for fuel quality and the implications of increased use of bio-fuels; and, the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR).

The meeting proposed having the 2nd IPR seminar in Indonesia. It was stressed that sharing information and increasing public awareness is necessary for IPR protection and safety in relation to counterfeit products.

The US presented a proposal for a heavy motorcycle safety initiative as a follow-up to the 2007 AD Road Safety Summit. The proposal consists of workshops that address all aspects of safety as it relates to large motorcycles, such as safety training programs, licensing, helmet laws and road restrictions.

The Republic of Korea offered to host and chair the next AD meeting to be held from 30 March to 2 April 2009.

The second AD meeting will be held on the margins of SOM meetings, to be held in Singapore in late July/early August 2009.

The meeting welcomed Japan's offer to host an AD meeting in 2010.

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Automotive Dialogue - Key Contacts

Chair of the Executive Committee/Steering Committee Chair
Andrew McKellar
Director - Government Policy
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries
GPO Box313
Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Tel. 61 2 6229 8214
Fax 61 2 6248 7673
E-mail: Andrew.McKellar@fcai.com.au

APEC Secretariat
Mr Andrey Y Plam
Director (Program)
E-mail: ayp@apec.org
 
 
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Automotive Dialogue Events
Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalisation
APEC Auto-parts Supplier Portal
Downloads
Automotive Profile - Australia
(PDF,151 Kb)
Automotive Profile - Japan
(PDF,212 Kb)
Effective Automotive Policies and Barriers to Growth
(PDF,89 Kb)
Measures to Assist the Recover of ASEAN Suppliers (2000)
(PDF,104 Kb)