Prime Minister Kishida and METI Minister Nishimura Receive the ABAC 2023 Report to APEC Economic Leaders

The ABAC is APEC's official private-sector advisory entity, established in 1996. Representing business sectors in the Asia-Pacific region, it annually releases the ABAC Report to APEC Economic Leaders. ABAC members consist of representatives of the business sectors of the 21 APEC member economies and are appointed by the respective leaders. From Japan, three members and two alternate members are appointed by the prime minister, and they have made active contributions to ABAC activities.

In response to the preparation of ABAC’s 2023 Report to APEC Economic Leaders, the Japanese ABAC members visited Prime Minister Kishida and Minister Nishimura, respectively, and hand delivered to each of them the ABAC 2023 Report.

Key points of the ABAC 2023 Report (see the Appendix to the ABAC Japan press release linked below for details) are as follows:

• Regional economic integration (e.g., implementing concrete measures toward the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific [FTAAP], and showing support for the multilateral rules-based trading system);
• Sustainable growth (e.g., taking ambitious measures against climate change, and promoting a fair, realistic, ambitious, and sustainable energy transition);
• Digital and innovation (e.g., inclusive growth in the era of AI, and encouraging responsible AI [generative AI, large language models, and general-purpose AI], [application to digital health]);
• Finance (e.g., promoting cross-border digital services for trade and finance, and promoting cross-border open data and cross-border open banking as well as digital payment); and,
• Inclusion (e.g., enhancing trade inclusiveness for sectors of the economy that are not fully demonstrating their potential [such as women; micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises; and indigenous people], and promoting the participation of these enterprises in sustainable development.)

Japan will make further progress in efforts to address these important issues highlighted in the report, together with other APEC members.

• Appendix: ABAC Japan Press Release(PDF:1,082KB)

Division in Charge

APEC Office, Trade Policy Bureau