An extraordinary session of the Japan APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) was held on April 20 and 21 in Tokyo.

1. An extraordinary session of the Japan Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) was held on April 20 (Tue.) and 21 (Wed.) in Tokyo. Senior officials from 21 APEC member economies, including Japan, attended the meeting, which was chaired by Mr. Hidehiko Nishiyama, Director-General for International Trade Policy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and Mr. Shigeru Nakamura, Ambassador for International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Mr. Makoto Shiota, Deputy Director-General for International Regional Policy, Trade Policy Bureau, METI, and Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu, Deputy Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau, MOFA, also attended as senior officials representing Japan.

2. At the meeting, senior officials discussed the assessment of the achievement of the Bogor goals*, which aim to realize free and open trade and investment, and the formulation of the APEC Growth Strategy. They agreed to accelerate their respective work toward the Second Senior Officials’ Meeting and the Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade, to be held in June in Sapporo.

*Bogor goals
Goals stipulating that free and open trade and investment be achieved by 2010 in industrialized economies of APEC and by 2020 in its developing economies (adopted in November 1994 at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Indonesia)

Participating economies: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the United States, Viet Nam

April 21, 2010

APEC Office, Trade Policy Bureau