Join hands to meet challenges and accelerate economic recovery-Asia-Pacific economies look forward to APEC to inject new impetus into regional development

Xinhua News Agency, Bangkok, November 17 (International Observation) Join hands to meet challenges and accelerate economic recovery-Asia-Pacific economies look forward to APEC to inject new impetus into regional development

Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yaguang Mao Pengfei

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

At present, Asia-Pacific economies are facing many common challenges such as the neo-crowning epidemic, high inflation, tightening of the global financial environment, geopolitical tensions and climate change, and all parties look forward to building consensus through the APEC platform, deepening cooperation, promoting economic recovery, promoting regional economic integration and injecting new impetus into the Asia-Pacific and global economic development.

Advocating openness and inclusiveness

Openness is the lifeline of Asia-Pacific cooperation. As the highest-level, widest and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, since its establishment, APEC has taken the lead in building an open world economy and promoting economic globalization towards a more open, inclusive, inclusive, balanced and win-win direction.

In an exclusive interview with a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, the chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Council, Jianggai Tienukul, said that the total population of APEC members exceeds 1/3 of the world and contributes about 60% of the world's GDP. The economy can cooperate to carry out trade, which will produce huge economic benefits and energy ".

The theme of this year's conference is "Open, Connected and Balanced". In this regard, Jiang Gai said that the impact of the new crown epidemic and geopolitical tensions persists, and APEC economies should adhere to the principles of openness and inclusiveness, avoid political interference, and promote free trade and connectivity, including digital infrastructure.

Promoting the construction agenda of the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area has also attracted much attention. Thani Tapadi, chairman of the APEC Senior Officials Meeting in 2022, said that APEC members are important engines of the world economy, and the construction of the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area will bring major benefits to all economies.

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

Join hands to meet the challenge

The outbreak of the new crown epidemic has hit the world economy hard and has a negative impact on the achievement of the sustainable development goals. While responding to the epidemic, how to take the opportunity of "restarting" the economy to build a more resilient and sustainable future is the common aspiration of all parties, including APEC members, and requires joint efforts.

"The epidemic has made us pay more attention to digital transformation and shows us 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 strengthen investment in digitalization and innovation, deepen exchanges and cooperation, further enhance the level of trade liberalization and facilitation, and promote the continuous strengthening of supply chain resilience.

According to Jiang Gai, Thailand, as the rotating chairman, will submit three urgent issues to the meeting-dealing with inflation, food security and climate change. These are common challenges facing the world today. Jiang Gai said he hopes APEC economies will work together to address these challenges.

Craig Emmerson, director of the Australian APEC Research Center at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, believes that APEC economies urgently need to clear the supply chain. "Repairing the supply chain as soon as possible will help ease inflationary pressures".

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

On November 14, in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, staff interacted with robots at the APEC Conference Media Center.

Looking forward to the voice of China

APEC is an important platform for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. In the 31 years since China joined this organization, it has always advocated open regionalism and played an active role in building an open world economy, supporting the multilateral trading system, and leading economic globalization. China has repeatedly expounded the concept of jointly building an Asia-Pacific community of shared destiny that is open and inclusive, innovative growth, connectivity and win-win cooperation. In the face of various complex challenges, all parties generally expect China's plan to 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 at present, economic growth in many countries and regions around the world is weak, inflationary pressure is great, and the challenges facing developing countries are also very great. China's promotion of a high level of opening up to the outside world has released a positive signal for the recovery of the world economy.

According to Xu Qingqi, director of the New Asian Strategic Research Center in Malaysia, China's success in eradicating absolute poverty has provided valuable experience for developing countries and regions; China is a leader in the field of renewable energy, which can help other developing countries and regions shift to clean energy and make great contributions to mitigating the impact of global climate change.

Stephen Jacoby, former executive director of the APEC Business Advisory Committee and executive director of the New Zealand International Trade Forum, said that China has promoted the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement Upgrade Protocol, and actively applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement have enhanced the integration and inclusiveness of the Asia-Pacific region. "We look forward to continued cooperation and China's continued opening up to jointly address the economic problems caused by the epidemic and benefit the 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 region and in the world," said chichai, director of the Department of international economic affairs of the Ministry of foreign affairs of Thailand."