APEC Leaders’ Meeting 2023 Session I (Summary)
[Provisional translation]
The first session of the APEC Leaders' Meeting (Topic: Sustainability, Climate, and Just Energy Transitions) was held in San Francisco, U.S.A., on November 16, from 12:45 p.m. local time (5:45 a.m. JST on November 17) for about two hours, chaired by the H.E. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States of America. H.E. Mr. Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, President of the Republic of Colombia, H.E. Mr. Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji and H.E. Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Industry of the Government of India were invited to the meeting. Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan attended the meeting, which is summarized as follows.
- Prime Minister Kishida stated the following three points that Japan attaches importance in order to contribute to sustainable growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
(1) The climate crisis is a global common challenge and an urgent state of affairs that threatens people's livelihoods. It is essential to make a global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and is important to promote energy transition through diverse and realistic pathways bearing in mind that the energy situation in each economy is different. Japan will host the first summit meeting next month on the "Asia Zero Emissions Community (AZEC)," which was proposed to accelerate the decarbonization of Asian countries, and will promote efforts to achieve an energy transition, decarbonization, and carbon neutrality in the Asia-Pacific region.
(2) Critical minerals are necessary to advance the transition to clean energy throughout the APEC region as a whole, however, it has become apparent excessive dependence on specific countries and the possibility of medium and long term tight supply-demand balance. It is important for all economies to work together to build a supply chain that can realize a stable supply of critical minerals, including those for recycling. Collaboration with partners inside and outside APEC and the private sector is essential to make supply chain resilient. This opportunity for dialogue with the invited economies and ABAC is extremely meaningful.
(3) The international community should work together to conserve biodiversity and natural resources, which are becoming increasingly and seriously challenging. As one of our efforts, we would like to work with all to bring an Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies that addresses IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) Fishing into effect before the 13th WTO Ministerial Meeting which will be held in three months. In February of this year, Japan was the first country in the world to contribute to the Trust Fund of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies to help developing countries build capacity in fisheries resource management. Together, we wish to ensure the sustainability of our shared beautiful Pacific Ocean.
- Prime Minister Kishida concluded by stating that through these efforts, Japan will contribute to the sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific region and will continue to work closely with economies inside and outside APEC to realize a world where "human dignity" is protected.
