SINGAPORE, November 20. /TASS/. The leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations have adopted a document outlining the region’s development for the next 20 years, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Friday after the APEC summit that was held in the videoconference format for the first time in history.
"We proclaim the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040, a new vision that primarily charts the future of our region. Our Vision is an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040, for the prosperity of all our people and future generations," the final document reads.
"We recognise the importance of a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable trade and investment environment to drive economic recovery at such a challenging time. In this regard, we reaffirm our support for agreed-upon rules of the WTO in promoting the stability and predictability of international trade flows," the document says.
The leaders also vowed to take efforts to "foster an enabling environment for the development of the digital economy" and to "promote innovative technologies and foster a reliable, interoperable, open, accessible and secure ICT environment, narrow the existing digital, skills and regulatory gaps, and encourage development in digital infrastructure and transformation."
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), an inter-governmental forum for economies in the Pacific Rim, brings together 19 countries and territories. Its 12 founding states are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States. Russia joined the forum in 1998.
Cooperation on vaccines
The leaders of the APEC economies have recognized the need to cooperate in the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines as well as to promote free trade. Such provisions were enshrined in the declaration and document on the development of the region for the next 20 years adopted on Friday following the results of the APEC summit.
The 27th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting was held on November 20 via a video conference. The APEC 2020 theme (Optimizing Human Potential towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity. Pivot. Prioritize. Progress) was formulated by Malaysia, which chaired in the organization this year.
"We reaffirm the need to cooperate constructively on COVID-19 including the research and development, production, manufacturing and distribution of diagnostic tests, essential medical products and services, therapeutics and vaccines," according to the Declaration.
"We highlight the importance of facilitating equitable access to safe, quality, effective and affordable vaccines and other medical countermeasures that are vital to safeguard people’s health and well-being, while incentivizing innovation. We acknowledge that the role of extensive immunization against COVID-19 is critical in order to bring the pandemic to an end," the document stresses. The APEC members also urged compliance of trade measures taken in the context of the coronavirus pandemic with the rules the World Trade Organization (WTO).
APEC development for next 20 years
According to the declaration adopted at the end of the meeting the leaders of APEC proclaim the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040, a new vision that primarily charts the future of our region. "Our Vision is an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040, for the prosperity of all our people and future generations. We task our Senior Officials to complete a comprehensive implementation plan for our consideration in 2021," the APEC members concluded.
APEC includes 19 countries. Among them there are 12 founding states (Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the US, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea and Japan), as well as China (joined in 1991), Mexico and Papua New Guinea (1993), Chile (1994), and Russia, Vietnam and Peru (1998). In 1991, two Chinese territories also joined the APEC - Xianggang (Hong Kong) and Taiwan. Given the specifics of the union which includes both states and territories, the APEC members are traditionally referred to as "economies."
The member-states account for almost 60% of the planet's GDP and 50% of world trade; about 3 billion people live on their territories. In 1998, a ten-year moratorium on the expansion of the APEC membership came into force. In 2010 it was extended indefinitely. India, Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Macau, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama, Sri Lanka and Ecuador are showing interest in joining. Next year, New Zealand is to take over the chairmanship in APEC.