永泰运化工物流股份有限公司-资讯中心-Jointly Addressing Challenges and Accelerating Economic Recovery - Asia Pacific Economies Looking Forward to APEC Injecting New Power into Regional Development

Jointly Addressing Challenges and Accelerating Economic Recovery - Asia Pacific Economies Looking Forward to APEC Injecting New Power into Regional Development

2022-11-18

The 29^th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is scheduled to be held in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, from November 18 to 19. The meeting will focus on development, cooperation and the building of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. This meeting is of special significance as it is the first offline gathering of APEC leaders in four years.

The Asia-Pacific economies are facing many common challenges, including the COVID-19 epidemic, high inflation, tighter global financial conditions, geopolitical tensions and climate change. All parties look forward to building consensus, deepening cooperation, promoting economic recovery and regional economic integration through the APEC platform so as to inject new impetus into the economic development of the Asia-Pacific and the world at large.

Advocate openness and inclusiveness

Openness is the lifeline of Asia-Pacific cooperation. As the highest-level, broadest and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, APEC has led the way in building an open world economy and making economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency, Chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Council, said APEC members account for more than one third of the world's total population and about 60 percent of the world's gross domestic product "If every economy can cooperate in trade, it will generate huge economic benefits and energy."

The theme of this year's conference is "Openness, Connectivity and Balance". In response，said the impact of COVID-19 and geopolitical tensions continues, and APEC economies should adhere to the principles of openness and inclusiveness, avoid political interference, and promote free trade and connectivity, including digital infrastructure.

The agenda of promoting the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) has also attracted attention. Thani Thongphakdi, Chairman of the 2022 APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, said that APEC members are an important engine of the world economy, and the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific will bring major benefits to all economies.

Work together to meet challenges

The outbreak of COVID-19 has hit the world economy hard and has a negative impact on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. How to use the opportunity of "restarting" the economy to build a more resilient and sustainable future while responding to the epidemic is the common aspiration of all APEC members and requires the joint efforts of all parties. "The epidemic has made us pay more attention to digital transformation and let us see the important role of digitalization in promoting trade facilitation."

Rebecca Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, said that APEC members are expected to further enhance investment in digitalization and innovation, deepen exchanges and cooperation, further improve trade liberalization and facilitation, and promote the continuous strengthening of supply chain resilience. According to Thailand, as the rotating chair, will submit three urgent topics to the meeting - tackling inflation, food security and climate change. These are common challenges facing the world today. said that it is hoped that APEC economies will work together to solve these challenges.

Craig Emerson, director of the Australian Centre for APEC Studies at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, believes there is an urgent need for the APEC economies to unblock supply chains. "Early repair of supply chain disruptions will help to ease inflationary pressures."

Thani expressed hope that Thailand's proposed Bangkok goals for bio-economy, circular economy and green economy models will be adopted, which will help APEC move toward a "strong, balanced and sustainable, inclusive and resilient future."

Look forward to the voice of China

APEC is an important platform for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Since joining the organization 31 years ago, China has always advocated open regionalism and played a positive role in building an open world economy, supporting the multilateral trading system and leading economic globalization. China has expounded on many occasions the vision of jointly building an Asia-Pacific community of shared future featuring openness, inclusiveness, innovative growth, connectivity and win-win cooperation. In the face of complex challenges, it is widely expected that China's proposal will inject new impetus into cooperation and economic development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Song Ligang, a professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, said that many countries and regions in the world are experiencing weak economic growth and high inflationary pressure. Developing countries also face great challenges. China's high-level opening-up has sent a positive signal to world economic recovery.

In the view of Xu Qingqi, Chairman of the New Asia Strategic Studies Center in Malaysia, China's success in eliminating absolute poverty has provided valuable experience for developing countries and regions. As a leader in the field of renewable energy, China can help other developing countries and regions make the transition to clean energy and make a huge contribution to mitigating the effects of global climate change.

Stephen Jacobi, Former Executive Director of the APEC Business Advisory Council and Executive Director of the New Zealand International Business Forum, said that by promoting the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Protocol to upgrade the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, as well as actively applying to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership, China has made the Asia-Pacific region more integrated and inclusive. "We look forward to continued cooperation, China's continued opening up, and joint efforts to solve the economic problems caused by the epidemic to benefit the whole world."

"China's role in promoting regional economic integration is so important that at this point in time, we need China to lead the process in the Asia-Pacific and globally," said Mr. Qichai, director general of the Department of International Economic Affairs at Thailand's Foreign Ministry.

Source: Xinhuanet

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