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Joint Comunique
1. At the invitation of the Parliament of Canada, the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from January 7 to 10, 1997.
2. The Fifth Annual Meeting was opened on Tuesday, January7, 1997 at a special ceremony. Delegates, accompanying persons and invited guests heard remarks from: Mr. Philip L´Hirondelle, Programming Director for the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre; the Honourable Dan Hays, Senator, Chairman, Canadian Section of the APPF; the Honourable Gildas L. Molgat, Speaker of the Senate; the Honourable Raymond Chan, Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) of Canada; His Worship Philip Owen, Mayor of Vancouver; the Honourable Glen Clark, Premier of British Columbia the Honourable David Anderson, Minister of Transport of Canada and the Honourable Yasuhiro Nakasone, President of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum.
3. The Meeting was attended by 92 parliamentarians from 21 member countries of the APPF and one observer country. The list of participating delegates appears as Annex 2.
4. The Honourable Dan Hays, Senator and Leader of the Canadian Delegation, was elected Chairman of the Fifth APPF Annual Meeting. The Honourable Donald H. Oliver, Senator and member of the Canadian Delegation was elected Vice-Chairman.
5. The President and Chairman of the Executive Committee, the Honourable Yasuhiro Nakasone, reported on the Meeting of the Executive Committee held on January 7, 1997. The principal items reported were: 1) the addition to the agenda of a joint resolution from Japan and Peru concerning the terrorist act at the Japanese Ambassador´s residence in Lima, Peru; 2) a Canadian proposal for amendments to the APPF Procedures in relation to the term of office, eligibility for re-election and the method of rotation which was to be re-submitted to the plenary session and reflect the comments of other Executive Committee Members, and; 3) the adoption of Terms of Reference for the Drafting Committee.
6. Mr. John Maloney, M.P., a member of the Canadian House of Commons, was appointed as Chairman of the Drafting Committee along with members from Australia, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and the United States.
7. The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, P.C., M.P., Prime Minister of Canada addressed the delegates at the Opening Plenary Session. The Prime Minister of Canada stressed that a dynamic and growing involvement in the Asia-Pacific Region is key to Canada´s future prosperity. He noted with great satisfaction that 1997 has been declared as Canada´s Year of Asia Pacific, and that the APPF meeting was the first event. He informed the Meeting of this Third Team Canada Trade Mission to Asia, this time to the Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Thailand which would begin later on Wednesday, January 8, 1997. The Prime Minister spoke of the importance of the APPF and how parliamentarians are an essential part of the decision-making process and should play an active role in international relations. He wished the delegates well in their deliberations.
8. The Indonesian Delegation reviewed the results of the 3rd Annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held on July 23, 1996 in Jakarta which was chaired by the Indonesian Foreign Minister and attended by all participants of the ARF. The delegation from Singapore reviewed the results of the First WTO Ministerial Meeting which took place in Singapore from December 9 to 12, 1996. The Philippine Delegation outlined the results of the Fourth APEC Leader´s Meeting held in Manila on November 24 to 25, 1996. The Delegation from Thailand summarized the discussions at the first Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) held in Bangkok on March 1 to 2, 1996. The delegation also outlined the discussions arising out of the inaugural meeting of the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP) which was held in Strasbourg, France on April 18, 1996.
9. The meeting unanimously adopted a document entitled, "New Vision of the Asia-Pacific Region in the 21st Century", to be referred to hereafter as the "Vancouver Declaration", setting forth the principles and intentions that will guide the work of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum in the years ahead. The Vancouver Declaration is appended as Annex 1 to this communique. Annex 2 is the list of the members of the participating delegations.
10. The meeting unanimously adopted a number of resolutions appended as follows:
Annex No.
3. Condemnation of the terrorist act perpetrated at the
Japanese Ambassador´s residence in Lima, Peru
4. Nuclear weapons
5. Terrorism
6. Anti-personnel mines
7. Peace and stability on the Korean peninsula
8. APEC
9. Trade liberalization and APPF
10.Asia-Europe cooperation
11.Environmental issues
12.Human resource development
13.Education and literacy
14.Cultural exchange programme
15.Youth exchange
16.Human rights and the exploitation of children and women
17.Legislative exchanges - APPF Web-site
18.Legislative exchanges among member countries
19.Illicit drugs and money laundering
20.Parliamentary Sessions of APPF
11. The meeting unanimously endorsed the Statement of Congratulations to the Honourable Yasuhiro Nakasone on the occasion of his 50th anniversary as a Member of the Japanese House of Representatives. The Statement is appended as Annex 21.
12. The meeting accepted the Peruvian initiative to establish an APPF web-site as well as the proposal for Thailand to set up a working committe to study the establishment of an effective inter-parliamentary mechanism to facilitate legislative exchanges.
13. The meeting referred the Canadian proposal on the size, membership and term of the Executive Committee to the next meeting of the APPF Executive Committee to be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea in September 1997 and to the Sixth Annual Meeting in the Republic of Korea in 1998.
14. The meeting heard a report from the delegation of the Republic of Korea on the arrangements for the Sixth Annual Meeting in January, 1998.
15. The meeting expressed its appreciation to the Canadian Chairman of the Fifth Annual Meeting and to the Parliament of Canada for organizing and hosting a succesful plenary meeting.
Adopted on Friday, January 10, 1997, at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Hon. Yasuhiro Nakasone
President of the APPF
Hon. Dan Hays
Chairman of the Fifth Annual Meeting