APEC Group Meets To Discuss Way Forward On Paperless Trade

The APEC working group on electronic financial transactions systems was set up following the 7th APEC Finance Ministers' meeting in September 2000. The group aims to develop and put in action programs to enable paperless trading across the region's financial sectors. Group members include financial experts from APEC member economies. The Tokyo meeting will be co-chaired by Masamichi Kono, director of the international affairs division at Japan's Financial Services Agency, and James Lau, executive director (monetary policy and markets) at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. The second meeting of the working group will be held in Hong Kong later this year.