The President in his keynote speech during the first session of the APEC Summit on Saturday (Nov. 14) stressed the importance of free trade within Asia-Pacific region and expressed Korea''s will to actively take part in improving the overall business environment.

At Saturday''s 17th APEC Summit in Singapore during “Retreat 1: Sustaining Growth,” President Lee engaged in an in-depth discussion on integrating the regional economies and regulatory reforms.

Economic leaders of the participating countries adopted “Service principles and action plans” to promote intra-APEC trade and investment and set the goal to improve 25% of the current business environment in five major sectors within the next fifteen years.

Leaders from developing countries like Indonesia and the Philippines in particular welcomed Korea, the United States and Japan''s plan to lead the five sectors: contract disputes (Korea); starting a business (the United States & New Zealand); permit rescission (Singapore); credit conditions (Japan); and trade (Hong Kong, Singapore).

President Lee underlined that more efforts should be made towards economic integration of the Asia-Pacific region that would improve the business environment, such as trade and investment. In relation, he explained through analysis of the economic effects of a possible FTAAP (Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific) has confirmed that free trade within the Asia-Pacific Area would greatly increase the welfare of the member nations. Consequently, he suggested detailed discussions on establishing An FTAAP in the long run.

Also, to overcome the current global economic crisis and secure stable growth in the future, he called for continuous reform in regulations and increased efforts to reduce transaction costs. He assured the audience that Korea, which is in charge of contract disputes, will actively lead the way to increase APEC''s ability to resolve related issues.