APEC promotes job creation, green growth at Honolulu meeting, say US Senior Officials
Senior officials from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum worked to finalize their recommendations to Ministers and Leaders this week as they met for the final time this year. APEC aims to promote sustainable growth and facilitate job creation by deepening regional economic integration.
U.S. Ambassador for APEC Kurt Tong, who chaired the meeting, was pleased with the strong progress made since the previous meeting in San Francisco in September, enabling the senior officials to present a robust package of ambitious recommendations to their Ministers and Leaders later in the week.
U.S. President Barack Obama will host the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting here on November 12 and 13.
APEC representatives recommended ways to build toward a seamless regional economy by advancing three priorities in 2011: strengthening regional economic integration and expanding trade and investment; encouraging green growth; and advancing regulatory cooperation and convergence in order to reduce the barriers that businesses—especially smaller companies—face in the region.
“Our Ministers and Leaders now have a great set of policy recommendations to consider when deciding how best to promote cooperation and enhance prosperity throughout the region,” Ambassador Tong said.
APEC officials proposed ways to address barriers to trade and investment, including work on “next-generation” issues that businesses confront today throughout the region, thereby encouraging the growth of businesses and the creation of new jobs.
Senior officials discussed how APEC can make progress to catalyze environmentally sustainable growth, encourage the trade of environmental goods and services, and foster the implementation of environmentally responsible policies and standards. APEC senior officials also made strides toward advancing cooperation and convergence in regulations between economies, so that businesses can trade more easily throughout the region.
“Our business community, particularly small and medium-size companies, should be quite pleased by the quality and number of concrete outcomes the United States and its APEC partner economies have achieved in 2011, particularly in our priority areas of strengthening regional economic integration, promoting green growth, and advancing regulatory convergence and cooperation,” said Wendy Cutler, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea, and APEC Affairs.
“Our hard work and cooperation on these issues should continue to yield benefits to all our stakeholders for many years.”
In addition to packaging the recommendations for Leaders, the senior officials also adopted the APEC Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade Strategy to better promote a secure environment conducive to growth and prosperity in the APEC region, launched an APEC Travel Facilitation Initiative to make travel throughout the region easier, faster, and more secure; and agreed to a reporting system to track economies’ progress as they phase out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies.
APEC’s work in these areas is making an important contribution to strengthening regional integration and expanding trade—and will move economies in the region closer to achievement of the vision of a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), a next-generation trade agreement, removing barriers to trade throughout the APEC region.
In addition, there are several other APEC meetings in Honolulu during Leaders' Week: the Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting, the Deputy Finance Ministers’ Meeting, the Finance Ministers’ Meeting, the APEC Ministers Meeting (during which foreign and trade Ministers meet jointly), and the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.
Details about APEC meetings, events, projects and publications can be found at www.apec.org or www.apec2011.gov. You can also follow APEC on Twitter and join us on Facebook.