STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1488

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 196

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.R. No. 196 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING UNITED STATES PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., AND THE ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION TO HOLD THE 2023 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION SUMMIT IN HONOLULU, HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the President of the United States and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to hold the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association.

Your Committee finds that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum established in 1989, that aims to create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration. Your Committee further finds that APEC's twenty-one member economies that generally surround the Pacific Ocean, represent over forty percent of the world's population and over fifty percent of the world's trade. Every year, one of the twenty-one APEC members plays host to APEC meetings (Summit) and serves as the APEC Chair. The host economy for the APEC Summit is responsible for chairing various meetings, including the annual Economic Leaders' Meeting, selected ministerial meetings, senior officials' meetings, the APEC Business Advisory Council, and the APEC Study Centers Consortium.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii is renowned not only for its hospitality grounded in the spirit of Aloha, natural beauty, and mild weather, but also for its diverse ethnicities and consensus building among multiple cultures. It is situated at the intersection of the twenty-one members of APEC and has experience successfully hosting and accommodating numerous international conferences, including the 2011 APEC Summit and the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2016. Thus, Hawaii is an ideal location to hold APEC Summits. Having the City and County of Honolulu host the 2023 APEC Summit will expose Hawaii again to the tremendous opportunity to establish positive and long-lasting relationships with the attending APEC member economies and their people, including thousands of diplomats, support staff, and media members from around the world, while boosting Hawaii's entire economy.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 196, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 196, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts,

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BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair