From left: Ambassador Moore; Sirma Karapeeva, Ministry of Economic Development; Julia Doherty, Chair of the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance and Robert Koch, President of the Wine Institute

New Zealand Ambassador to the United States Rt Hon. Mike Moore, provided the keynote address at the APEC Wine Regulatory Forum Seminar held in San Francisco, California on 18-19 September 2011.

The WRF Seminar marked the first-ever meeting of wine regulators and industry from both wine producing and consuming economies.

The seminar was sponsored by the United States, and co-sponsored by Australia, Chile, New Zealand, and Peru.

Eighteen of the twenty-one member economies participated.  Ambassador Moore made several key points in his remarks about the importance of an open market and a streamlined regulatory environment as a necessary pre-condition for the development of domestic wine production and trade.

He noted that regional trade in wine is quickly growing in significance, but it is burdened by major costs due to different and sometimes conflicting regulatory requirements.

Estimates suggest that the cost to APEC economies and businesses is approximately $1 billion USD per year.

New Zealand’s experience suggests that APEC has an important role to play in promoting processes that support regulatory coherence to address real business concerns and shape practical solutions.