Please find below our comments on the draft Minutes of the Meeting on APEC SMEWG Chairmanship (Agenda Item 13?)
It was agreed that economies may submit its intention for the Chairmanship to the APEC Secretariat for recording. We noted that several economies (The Philippines, Singapore and others?) proposed for a revised system of succession for the Chairmanship, changing it from voluntary to alphabetical system on a voluntary manner. The right of first refusal is given to the economy, which turn it is to chair following the alphabetical order. The SMEWG shall then decide from the final set of volunteering economies, whom to select as Chair. Should the SMEWG come to a consensus by votation (if selecting from volunteers) on who will be the next SMEWG Chair on the 39th SMEWG Meeting and not inter-sessionally?
For transparency may we request the APEC Secretariat to provide the list of volunteering chairs including the list of previous chairs, to all economies – so that, in consultation with our respective economies, we can intelligently decide on which ECONOMY AND NOT THE PERSON to nominate as Chair. We leave it to the economy to decide, whom to send as Chair.
May we request also the Secretariat to circulate to the SMEWG the result of the nomination for the Chairmanship in a transparent manner.
May we request the Chair and the Secretariat to also look into the previous minutes of the meeting of the 29th and 30th SMEWG. These meetings captured the agreements very well on the selection of Chair.