Resolution on Building an Asia-Pacific Regional Community
16th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASIA – PACIFIC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM
21 – 24 January 2008, Auckland, New Zealand
Resolution on Building an Asia-Pacific Regional Community
APPF16/RES/21
(Sponsored by Japan)
THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF ASIA-PACIFIC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM,
Recognizing that the building of an Asia Pacific Regional Community will contribute to peace in the region, as well as to further economic and cultural prosperity;
Recalling the APPF's 1997 Declaration of Vancouver and seven principles, the 2001 Declaration of Valparaiso and the Pacific Basin Charter, APEC's 1994 Bogor Declaration and the 1995 Action Agenda adopted in the Osaka Meeting, and the 2005 Busan Road Map towards the Bogor goals, as well as the resolution on Building an Asia-Pacific Regional Community adopted at fifteenth APPF annual meeting;
Convinced that the strengthening of economic ties through multi-layered regional cooperation, which includes APEC, ARF, the East Asia Summit, ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+l, and through a network of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements will contribute to the emergence of common regional goals, to the future establishment of a regional community, and to the unification of the region;
Noting the global importance of the Asia-Pacific Region, recognizing the developmental potential of the region of possibilities, calling to mind the importance of regional values, such as religious and cultural diversity, tolerance and moderation, and simultaneously confirming that the community to be built in this region must not be exclusive or closed, but rather must be an open community in which universal values, global norms, and the principles of transparency and openness are duly respected;
RESOLVES TO:
- Advance the prospect of East Asian integration, through a multi-layered framework of regional cooperation that includes EAS, APEC, ARF, ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+l; and recognize that those co-operation mechanisms are mutually supportive and complementary;
- Recommend governments and parliaments of APPF member States promote initiatives for the conclusion of fair free-trade agreements and economic partnership agreements in progress in the region and joint research projects;
- Urge all APPF member states to duly respect the political systems and economic development stages of the countries of the region, as well as the region's cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, and at the same time to nurture an awareness of common destiny in the region and to act to maintain a sense of unity;
- Call upon all APPF member states, acting on a foundation of shared universal values, including respect for human rights and the protection of the environment, to promote the development of mutual understanding, mutual trust, and amity in the region's politics, security, economic and culture, to appreciate and to respect different cultures, to promote open regional cooperation, and to make the greatest possible effort to build the Asia Pacific Regional Community as a "common house" for the region.
