APEC ministers discuss mining exploration, development
Thursday, October 20 2005 - 01:45 PM WIB
The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, founded in 1989 and to foster trade among its economies, includes a number of mining heavyweights such as producers Australia, the United States and Chile along with consumers like China and Japan.
"To many APEC member economies, both metals' producers and consumers, mining is an integral part of their economic life," South Korea's Choi Seok-young, executive director of the APEC secretariat for the meeting, said in an address.
Representing a total population of about 2.8 billion people, APEC economies account for nearly half of global trade.
Choi said that APEC in total exports about US$9.8 billion worth of coal annually. He added that Australia is the world's largest coal exporter, while Chile and other metal producers have prospered because of heavy demand from China, the world's fastest growing major economy.
Shipments of metals to China, mostly copper, totaled US$1.85 billion in 2003, an increase of 45 percent from the year before, he said.
The one-day meeting in this southeastern Korean city follows APEC's first on mining issues last year in Chile, where ministers discussed issues including sustainable development and liberalizing trade and investment.
The organization also includes Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. (*)