Australia hails APEC a green success

9 Sep 2012, 5:31 pm   -   Source: AAP

The federal government has hailed this year's APEC summit a success after leaders agreed to push ahead with tariff cuts on green goods.

Regional leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit have agreed to slash tariffs on environmental goods in a move the Gillard government believes will deliver big benefits to Australian producers.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson - filling in for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who left the APEC summit in the Russian city of Vladivostok after learning her father had died - called it a fantastic decision.

Australia played a critical role in helping to broker the deal which earlier in the week had looked uncertain.

It will see APEC's 21 member nations cut import duties on 54 different products - including solar cells, solar hot-water systems and wind-turbine blades - to no more than five per cent by 2015.

Dr Emerson pointed out that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had failed to strike such an agreement even after a decade of negotiations.

Australia exports $1.2 billion worth of environmental products every year and the trade is worth a total of $430 billion across the region.

"This is big bikkies - this matters a lot for Australia, it matters a lot for the region," Dr Emerson told Australian reporters shortly after the summit wrapped up on Sunday.

"When there is a rising tide of protectionism, for the APEC economies to get together and agree to reduce tariffs on a class of goods - in this case goods used to clean up and protect the environment - it's a tribute to APEC and a great achievement."

The APEC leaders also agreed to push ahead with plans to open up the region's higher education market.

The Russian-led proposals would boost links between the region's universities and make it easier for students and academics to study and work in institutions in other APEC countries.

It would also make it easier for universities to set up campuses in other APEC nations.

"This is right up our alley," Dr Emerson said. "It couldn't be better suited to our circumstances in Australia."

In their official declaration, leaders pledged to work together to revive flagging growth in the region and restore confidence in embattled financial markets.

Food security, supply chains, transport and innovation also figured in the leaders' talks.

But differences over how to solve the ongoing crisis in Syria and simmering territorial disputes involving China, Japan and South Korea dominated many discussions on the summit's sidelines.

Before withdrawing from the summit on Saturday, Ms Gillard met with the leaders of Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

The prime minister oversaw the signing of the formal agreement to allow Australia to send asylum seekers to PNG's Manus Island for processing.

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