KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA
The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.
Issued by the APEC Secretariat
Beijing, China, 10 November 2014 – The Leaders of the 21 APEC member economies
commenced their two-day gathering in Beijing on Monday, engaging with
Asia-Pacific business executives who called for accelerated regional
integration to promote sustained growth and recovery in the region while
adapting to new business realities.
Leaders
shared their views on promoting regional integration, innovative
development and economic reform, and infrastructure investment and
comprehensive connectivity - APEC';s 2014 priorities - during the APEC
CEO Summit.
Members of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) presented their recommendations,
reflecting private sector views from across the Asia-Pacific, during a
separate informal dialogue with Leaders. The exchange set the stage for
the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting at Yanqi Lake on Tuesday.
“The
business community is an important engine of economic development in
the Asia-Pacific and the world,” said China’s President Xi Jinping in
earlier remarks at the APEC CEO Summit. “As Asia-Pacific regional
economic cooperation deepens and becomes more substantive, some of
APEC’s cooperation initiatives are already yielding positive results,
bringing real benefits to the region’s businesses.”
President
Xi welcomed input based on the actual needs of the business community
to build on this progress and identify a viable path for strengthening
trade and investment, regional economic integration and long-term
development in the region.
“Tariffs
in APEC economies are lower, the basic cost of a transaction has
dropped and for a container for export, the processing cost in the
region averages USD800 while in the rest of the world it’s more than USD
1,000,” said Frank Ning, Chair of Chinese grain conglomerate COFCO and
ABAC in 2014. “All those things benefit business. We would very much
like to see more.”
“Among
all APEC member economies, there are over 50 bilateral free trade
agreements,” Ning explained. “We want to see more basic, broader
coverage to really benefit trade and business which is why we are
promoting the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific or
FTAAP.”
Other
recommendations include the cultivation of public-private partnerships
and mobilizing long-term savings, based on the development of capital
markets and effective regulatory frameworks, to increase investment
required to bridge infrastructure gaps in the region and maximize the
benefits of an FTAAP.
The
establishment of conditions that encourage innovation is also suggested
as a way to reverse recent declines in productivity growth. Support for
small, medium and micro-enterprises, a more active role for women in
the economy and measures that address sustainability issues such as
urbanization, food security, health and green growth are among the other
recommendations put forward for consideration.
“The
founding principle of APEC 25 years ago was to try to create an
integrated regional economy which has worked well and guided growth in
the region, Ning concluded. “Today, this principle is still relevant.”
# # #
For more:
Program
details for the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on Tuesday, including
specific event times and venues, can be viewed at this link.
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