At the 16th APEC Finance Ministers' meeting held in Singapore on 12 November 2009, Finance Ministers and representatives of key international financial institutions (IFIs) assessed the extraordinary stimulus measures introduced by APEC economies since the end of 2008 to address the global financial crisis, and discussed the design and implementation of stimulus measures, exit strategies and fiscal sustainability.

The meeting discussed new sources of growth, how APEC could further advance structural reforms to raise the potential output growth rate, and how APEC could leverage on the resources and expertise of IFIs, regional development banks and the private sector. Participants also discussed ways to create an environment conducive for finance to continue to flow to infrastructure development, green industries and other areas which will contribute to future growth.

A Joint Ministerial Statement issued by the meeting includes:

• An agreement that in the post-crisis period, key challenges facing the world economy include restoring growth potential; successfully exiting the extraordinary fiscal, financial and monetary policy measures; implementing credible medium-term fiscal consolidation strategies; and meeting the region's massive infrastructure needs.
  
  
• A commitment to supporting free and open trade and investment to advance Asia-Pacific and global prosperity and growth sustainability, and to actively resist protectionist measures.
  
  
• An undertaking to prepare a report to APEC Leaders in 2010 on efforts to achieve stronger, more balanced, and sustained growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
  
  
• A direction to officials - on a pathfinder basis and in partnership with the IMF and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) - to identify priority areas for structural reform in economies and the region, to develop modalities to share best practices and expertise, and to connect reform needs with expertise and resources from member economies, the IMF, MDBs, and the private sector.
  
  
• Recognition of the scope for further progress on developing common approaches for private infrastructure investment across APEC economies as demonstrated in the expert report "Meeting APEC's Post Crisis Infrastructure Challenge: Towards Commonality in PPP Infrastructure Markets". The Statement also welcomes the pathfinder initiative on developing a harmonised road map for private infrastructure provision.
  
  
• An acknowledgement of the recommendations in the APEC Policy Support Unit's study on food security.

Pursuant to the FMP policy initiatives, a number of workshops and seminars took place in 2009:

• The three-part capacity building project - "Developing a Diversified and Sound Institutional Investor Base" - was held between March and July 2009. The first phase was a workshop held in Malaysia in which participants were introduced to current thinking on and technical tools for reforms that support institutional investor development. In the second phase, participants prepared draft action plans in consultation with key stakeholders in their home economies - the plans aimed to address a specific problem identified as an impediment to broadening the institutional investor base. The last phase was a workshop held in Viet Nam where participants discussed barriers to implementing their chosen actions.
  
  
• The "APEC Financial Regulators Training" series, aimed at strengthening the training programmes for staff at supervisory and regulatory agencies in the region and to improve coordination of regional and international training programmes. Seminars have been delivered in 2009 for banking and securities supervisors and regulators on topics such as "Understanding Global Financial Markets and Products."
  
  
• "The Sixth Annual Meeting of APEC Financial Institutions Dealing with SMEs" was convened on 8 July 2009 in Seoul, Korea. The meeting considered: current cooperation activities between institutions; existing programmes and plans to provide special financial support mechanisms to SMEs; and future technical cooperation among member financial institutions centred on expanding and deepening information exchange and enhancing human resource development. To further promote information exchange, the meeting was followed by a one-day conference. "APEC Conference on SME Development and Financing in an Age of Global Economic Crisis".