In Indonesia, APEC officials act to improve growth
Improving sustainable growth in the Asia-Pacific region is the emphasis of a two-week cluster of technical meetings and workshops that opens in Medan on Saturday.
The Third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and Related Meetings will take place in Medan, Indonesia on 22 June-6 July 2013. Located on the northern coast of Sumatra, Medan is the third-largest city in Indonesia. A range of workshops and seminars will take place here to address, among other topics, steps needed to boost free and open trade and investment, sustainable growth and connectivity.
The APEC Secretariat’s Executive Director, Dr Alan Bollard, described the conditions under which APEC members are working with one another to implement measures that can improve sustainable growth in the Asia-Pacific and extend the benefits to a greater number of people.
“Asia-Pacific economies remain on a path of modest but generally steady growth,” said Dr Bollard. “Staying on this path requires further work to address imbalances.”
“For example, measures that enhance the management of natural resources and the environment in commercially and socially viable ways can support this process,” he explained. “APEC projects facilitate practical guidance to execute policies that support these goals.”
The strengthening of anti-corruption efforts and transparency, increased information and technology exchange, and better public-private sector coordination are tactics slated for greater discussion and exploration.
Smart energy production and use will be another point of focus. This includes work towards the lowering of tariffs to five percent or less on an APEC list of environmental goods and services as well as the promotion of green building through greater standards and conformance harmonization.
“The efforts underway to improve sustainable growth across APEC economies are far-reaching, ambitious and often long-term propositions,” said Dr Bollard. “They are buoyed by a shared commitment to achieving progress vital to meeting the needs of businesses and improving living standards.”
This applies to complementary elements of APEC’s agenda to be addressed in Medan. They range from human resource development and assessment of preventative health strategies to raise productivity to the shaping of an APEC framework on infrastructure development and investment to enhance cross-border flows of goods, services and people.
The proceedings will culminate with the Third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting here on 5-6 July.
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