APEC 2013

WITH the theme “Towards Resilience and Growth: Reshaping Priorities for the Global Economy,” this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit gathered prominent heads of state and business leaders from the 21-member nations and territories in Bali, Indonesia.
Held last October 5-7, the global leaders discussed some of the region’s most pressing issues including economic integration, trade liberalization, sustainable growth and energy security. This year’s theme is also in line with the worldwide pursuit of peace, development and cooperation.
The summit also aims to forge regional resilience measures to address future economic crisis; to maintain a climate of open trade; to ensure improvements within local economies; to improve the investment climate while redirecting excess savings prudently; and to reduce burgeoning economic polarization within Asia.
Still hounded by an economic downturn, the world is expecting the region to whip the global economy back to shape, since the United States and the European Union both are yet to recover from the global financial and the Eurozone debt crises.
The world recognizes the Asia Pacific region as a potential trendsetter for sustainable growth, trade and investment liberalization, and fostering innovation to address economic and demographic challenges. To promote common prosperity, APEC leaders have also agreed to strengthen connectivity within economies and markets in the region through the APEC Economic Leaders’ Declaration.
“The global growth is too weak, risks remain tilted to the downside, global trade is weakening and the economic outlook suggests growth is likely to be slower and less balanced than desired. We share the urgency for region-wide partnership to create better quality and more productive jobs, attract private investments, reduce poverty, and improve living standards,” The APEC declaration said.
Among the commitments the APEC leaders shared include the implementation to reduce tariffs on the APEC List of Environmental Goods (EGs) to five percent or less by the end of 2015, the establishment of the APEC Public Private Partnership on Environmental Goods and Services (PPEGS) and the exploring of trade in products that contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth through rural development and poverty alleviation.
“While trade growth and investment flows within, the APEC region has outperformed the rest of the world. We should nevertheless guard against the pressure to raise new trade and investment barriers. To that end, we extended our standstill commitment until the end of 2016 and reaffirmed our pledge to roll back protectionist and trade-distorting measures,” the APEC declaration further said.
For its part, the Philippine government vowed to sustain economic growth through to free and open trade, investment liberalization and facilitation, and economic reform.
According to a press release by Malacañang, the country will also continue to “vouch for the micro, small, and medium enterprises to achieve sustainable growth with equity and facilitating free flow of goods; the safeguarding of vulnerable populations through social protection efforts; the deepening of engagement with our external partners and the maintenance of ASEAN centrality; and the adherence to the rule of law and maritime security and cooperation.”
After all these agreements and commitments, world leaders are expected to advocate the goals of the APEC Summit among themselves, especially with lingering disputes existing within its members. Opportunities come with challenges. Only through unrelenting efforts to seek regional stability and peace can everyone benefit from all the APEC’s goals.
(AJPress)