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 Home > News & Policies > October 2002

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 26, 2002

Fact Sheet: APEC Leaders Meeting - Day One U.S. Accomplishments

President George W. Bush speaks with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice at the start of the group meeting with ASEAN leaders 10th APEC leaders meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002. Also pictured seated from left are His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'Izzaddin Waddaulah and Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng both of Brunei and Chief of Staff Andy Card. White House photo by Tina Hager.

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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