Joining Hands to Tackle Challenges and Accelerate Economic Recovery—Asia-Pacific Economies Hope APEC Will Inject New Momentum into Regional Development

Joining Hands to Tackle Challenges and Accelerate Economic Recovery—Asia-Pacific Economies Hope APEC Will Inject New Momentum into Regional Development

Xinhua News Agency, Bangkok, November 17 (International Observation) — Joining Hands to Tackle Challenges and Accelerate Economic Recovery: Asia-Pacific Economies Hope APEC Will Inject New Momentum into Regional Development.

Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Yaguang and Mao Pengfei

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

Currently, Asia-Pacific economies are facing a host of common challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation, a tightening global financial environment, geopolitical tensions, and climate change. All parties look forward to leveraging the APEC platform to build consensus, deepen cooperation, promote economic recovery, advance regional economic integration, and inject new momentum into the economic development of the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large.

Advocate openness and inclusivity

Openness is the lifeline of Asia-Pacific cooperation. As the highest-level, broadest-ranging, and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, since its establishment, APEC has taken the lead in setting the tone, consistently advocating for the building of an open world economy and promoting the development of economic globalization toward greater openness, inclusiveness, shared benefits, balance, and win-win outcomes.

In an exclusive interview with a Xinhua News Agency reporter, Jang Kae Thanukul, Chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Council, stated that APEC members together account for more than one-third of the world’s population and contribute approximately 60% of global GDP. “If every economy could cooperate to engage in trade, it would generate tremendous economic benefits and energy.”

This year’s conference theme is “Openness, Connectivity, and Balance.” In response, Jiang Gai stated that, given the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, APEC economies should uphold the principles of openness and inclusiveness, avoid political interference, and promote free trade as well as connectivity—including digital infrastructure.

The agenda for advancing the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific has also drawn considerable attention. Thanin Thongphadit, Chair of the 2022 APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting, stated that APEC members are key engines of the global economy, and the development of the FTAAP will bring significant benefits to all economies.

This photo, taken on November 12 in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, shows the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Teng)

Join hands to meet the challenges.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the global economy and has also had negative impacts on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. While responding to the pandemic, it is a shared aspiration—among all parties, including APEC members—to seize the opportunity presented by the economic “restart” to build a more resilient and sustainable future, and this will require concerted efforts from all sides.

“The pandemic has made us place greater emphasis on digital transformation and has also highlighted the crucial role of digitalization in promoting trade facilitation,” said Rebecca Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat. She expressed her hope that APEC members will further intensify their investments in digitalization and innovation, deepen exchanges and cooperation, continuously enhance the level of trade liberalization and facilitation, and bolster the resilience of supply chains.

According to Jiang Gai, as the rotating chair, the Thai side will submit three urgent issues to the meeting—addressing inflation, food security, and climate change. These are all common challenges currently facing the global community. Jiang Gai said he hopes that APEC economies will work together to tackle these challenges.

Craig Emerson, Director of the APEC Study Centre at RMIT University in Australia, believes that APEC economies urgently need to unblock supply chains. “Addressing supply-chain disruptions as soon as possible will help ease inflationary pressures.”

He Ni expressed his hope that the Bangkok goal—Thailand’s proposed model of bioeconomy, circular economy, and green economy—would be adopted, which would help APEC move toward a “strong, balanced, sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future.”

On November 14, in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, staff members interacted with robots at the APEC summit’s media center.

Looking forward to the Chinese voice.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an important platform for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Since China joined this organization 31 years ago, it has consistently advocated for open regionalism and played a positive role in building an open world economy, supporting the multilateral trading system, and leading global economic integration. China has repeatedly articulated its vision of jointly building an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future that is open and inclusive, driven by innovation-driven growth, interconnectedness, and win-win cooperation. Faced with various complex challenges, all parties generally look forward to the Chinese approach injecting new momentum into Asia-Pacific regional cooperation and economic development.

Song Ligang, a professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, said that many countries and regions around the world are currently experiencing weak economic growth and significant inflationary pressures. Developing countries face particularly daunting challenges. China's promotion of high-level opening-up sends a positive signal for the recovery of the global economy.

In the view of Xu Qingqi, Chairman of the New Asia Strategy Research Center in Malaysia, China’s successful elimination of absolute poverty has provided valuable lessons for developing countries and regions. As a leader in the field of renewable energy, China can help other developing countries and regions transition to clean energy, making a significant contribution to mitigating the impacts of global climate change.

Stephen Jacoby, former Executive Director of the APEC Business Advisory Council and Executive Director of the New Zealand International Trade Forum, said that by promoting the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Protocol to Upgrade the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, as well as actively applying to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), China has strengthened regional integration and inclusiveness in the Asia-Pacific. “We look forward to continued cooperation, with China further expanding its openness and working together to address the economic challenges posed by the pandemic, benefiting the entire world.”

Chichai, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs at Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated, “China plays such a crucial role in promoting regional economic integration that, at this particular moment, we need China to take the lead in driving this process both within the Asia-Pacific region and globally.”