Innovation, growth on agenda for Vladivostok
Senior Officials from APEC’s 21 member economies concluded their preparations on Monday in Vladivostok by finalizing their recommendations to Leaders and Ministers on advancing APEC’s 2012 priorities to strengthen trade and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, and reinforce the region’s position as the vanguard for global growth.
The 2012 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be held here on 8-9 September, preceded by an annual gathering of APEC Ministers on 5-6 September. During the meetings, APEC Leaders and Ministers will, in particular, consider the outcome of work on APEC’s 2012 priorities to strengthen trade and investment, and regional economic integration, supply chains, food security and innovation.
Setting the stage, APEC Senior Officials evaluated APEC’s key achievements for this year, including the progress it has made on fulfilling Leaders’ instructions to develop in 2012 an APEC list of environmental goods that directly and positively contribute to sustainable development.
“APEC members and stakeholders have continued to intensively work on ‘next generation’ trade and investment issues to produce a set of specific and tangible deliverables for 2012,” said APEC 2012 SOM Chair Igor Morgulov who is Russia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“The results are crucial to improving opportunities for businesses and workers by facilitating global supply chains, assisting small and medium enterprises and promoting effective, non-discriminatory, and market-driven innovation policy.”
APEC Senior Officials additionally reached consensus on measures to further strengthen transparency in trade agreements and implement a more systematic approach to supply chain chokepoints.
“Work on these issues drives APEC toward regional economic integration and contributes to building a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific,” Morgulov said.
“Equally important, these actions also promote good regulatory practices to expand trade and foster an environment that supports increased productivity and growth to help get the global economy back on track,” he added.
Updated tracking data reaffirms the value of such efforts.
According to a new economic policy report that was presented to APEC Senior Officials, member economies improved the ease of doing business in the region by 8.2 percent in 2011, exceeding the five percent target for the year and keeping on track to meet the goal of a 25 percent improvement by 2015.
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For more information, please contact David Hendrickson +65 9371 8901 at [email protected] or Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at [email protected].
More details on APEC Economic Leaders’ Week and APEC’s 2012 priorities can be found on www.apec.org or www.apec2012.ru.