BUSAN, South Korea, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- APEC ministers said here Wednesday that APEC's goal of economic prosperity could not be achieved unless corruption, both in the domestic economies and in international business transactions, was effectively addressed and those individuals guilty of corruption were denied a safe haven.

    In a joint statement issued on the conclusion of the two-day 17th APEC Ministerial Meeting Wednesday, ministers from the 21 member economies of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) said corruption is one of the largest barriers to APEC's road to free trade, further economic development and greater prosperity.

    They reaffirmed that they would continue to look for avenues to effectively address this important issue within APEC and in other fora.

    They commended the APEC Anti-Corruption and Transparency (ACT) Task Force for beginning its important work.

    The ministers stressed the importance of capacity building programs and encouraged member economies to develop and submit capacity building projects in support of APEC works in transparency as well as in anti-corruption.

    The APEC Budget Management Committee (BMC) has approved 85 projects designed to strengthen the infrastructure and capacity of developing areas of the regional economy, worth 5.5 million US dollars in 2005, and a further 2.2 million dollars will be available for projects later in 2006, a committee official announced here Monday.

    The APEC ministers encouraged all member economies to take all appropriate steps toward effective ratification and implementation of relevant conventions. They urged all member economies to submit brief annual progress reports to the ACT Task Force on their APEC anti-corruption commitments, including a more concrete roadmap for accelerating the implementation and tracking progress.

    The minister pledged to intensify regional cooperation to deny a safe haven to officials and individuals guilty of corruption, and encouraged greater cooperation in the areas of mutual legal assistance, extradition, asset recovery, and forfeiture of the proceeds of corruption.

    They agreed to continue APEC's collective efforts to promote good governance, integrity, and transparency.

    The ministers reiterated the importance of fulfilling the APEC Transparency Standards and the area-specific Transparency Standards. Enditem