For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 26, 2002
Fact Sheet: APEC Leaders Meeting - Day One U.S. Accomplishments
U.S. Accomplishments
The Los Cabos APEC Leaders' Meeting is focused on two principal
objectives: enhancing counterterrorism cooperation and promoting
economic growth and free trade. In today's Leaders' Retreat and in
meetings with key APEC Leaders, President Bush advanced key U.S.
interests with respect to both objectives.
Counterterrorism
- APEC Agrees to U.S.-Driven Counterterrorism Initiative:
President Bush secured APEC agreement on a U.S.-driven 'Statement on
Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Growth' designed to enhance our
security while growing our economies. The Statement -- a significant
show of unity by economies representing 60 percent of world GDP and one
quarter of the world's Muslim population -- commits APEC members to a
number of specific measures to protect key Pacific Rim infrastructure
(trade, finance, and communications) from terrorist exploitation and
attack.
- Leaders Condemn Recent Acts of Terrorism: President Bush and
other APEC Leaders issued a statement condemning in the strongest terms
the recent terrorist attacks in Bali, Indonesia, the Philippines and
Moscow, and pledging to accelerate counterterrorism cooperation.
- Earlier this week, in another sign of unity, the United States
and Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and a number of other countries
jointly referred Jemaah Islamiya, an al Qaida-linked Islamic extremist
group with cells operating throughout Southeast Asia, to the United
Nations for blocking action.
North Korea
- U.S., Japan and ROK Call for Dismantlement of North Korea's
Nuclear Weapons Program: President Bush met with Prime Minister Koizumi
of Japan and President Kim Dae-Jung of the Republic of Korea and
together they reaffirmed their commitment to a peaceful Korean
peninsula free of nuclear weapons. The three leaders issued a strong
statement calling upon North Korea to "dismantle" its nuclear weapons
program "in a prompt and verifiable manner and to come into full
compliance with all its international commitments." The three leaders
agreed that North Korea's relations with the international community
now rest on its prompt action to dismantle its nuclear weapons
program.
Trade
- U.S. Unveils Enterprise for ASEAN (EAI) Initiative: President
Bush met with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), becoming the first U.S. President to meet with ASEAN heads of
state as a group since President Reagan attended the Bali summit in
1984. The President announced an important new initiative with ASEAN --
the Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative (EAI). The EAI provides a roadmap
for closer trade relations with the United States, offering the
prospect of bilateral free trade agreements to those ASEAN countries
that are members of the World Trade Organization and that have
concluded Trade and Investment Framework Agreements with the United
States.
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