Leaders get the lowdown on business chiefs' views

By Mark Reynolds

The opinions of chief executives gathered on the sidelines of this week's Apec events will be given some official recognition.

Prime Minister Jenny Shipley has agreed to make a report on the CEO summit deliberations available to the main leaders' summit.

The decision to have the views officially available is expected to annoy some members of the Apec Business Advisory Council, which traditionally provides the official private-sector input into Apec meetings.

The CEOs "report" is expected to be more of a discussion paper about the opportunities to improve business conditions in Apec members' economies, rather than the prescriptive style of recommendations usually delivered by the council.

"This is not necessarily going to be Apec-friendly," said Lex Henry, a founding member of the CEO conference.

He said Apec would not ultimately succeed without involving all participants in regional economies. The views of the business communities, therefore, had to receive significant recognition.

John Maasland, chairman of the CEO summit, said Mrs Shipley's decision to deliver the chief executives' report showed that the New Zealand Government at least recognised the need to talk to and about business when setting broader economic policy.

"What we want to do is create views on how business sees the future and how they (politicians) should see the future," Mr Maasland said.

Mr Henry said the CEO conference would look at some business issues that "have not been properly debated" by Apec leaders. These included areas such as a regional approach to ensuring workforces were educated for economic change.

However, the idea was to establish an approach that would let Apec member countries take individual approaches on establishing economic and social models, while highlighting any differences.

"It is not about creating grand schemes," Mr Henry said.

Some of the more controversial sessions of the CEO summit will discuss governance, transparency and compliance rules that could be undermined by policy frameworks, and whether any real economic benefit can be gained from harmonising regulatory regimes.

The unusual style of the summit will have the 250 invited CEOs going though the agenda in a round-table style of discussion, rather than simply sit through a series of speeches.

Mr Henry said: "The intention is to be interactive so that we can deliver something substantial at the end of the summit."