APEC 2013: Promoting Regional Economic Recovery

Under the “Resilient Asia-Pacific, Engine of Global Growth” theme, APEC 2013 will delve into contents and measures to push a more robust economic recovery in the Asia - Pacific region, especially in the context that the engine of global growth has shifted from the West to this area.

APEC currently holds an extremely important role in the global economy as it accounts for 56 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP) and 44 percent of world trade. In 2012, although global economic uncertainty negatively impacted APEC's exports, the region still saw an increase of 2.6 percent in trade turnover, reaching US$8,700 billion, while many other big economies were hit hard by financial crisis and public debt. Thus, in the context of slow, uncertain global economic recovery, APEC is considered the new engine of economic growth.

 

2013 is seen as the year for regional economies to make stronger growth on a larger scale. With economic improvement prospects of Thailand and other APEC members, 2013 will bring vibrancy, prosperity and expansion in this region. The prosperity of APEC also includes insurability for regional economies to boost regional growth and encouraging environment to support businesses and create more jobs with higher incomes.

 

According to Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono, as the host country and with the desire to strengthen its leadership role in Southeast Asia and APEC, Indonesia has included three priority contents to the APEC Summit 2013 Agenda, including the attainment of the Bogor Goals, the achievement of sustainable growth with equity, and the promotion of connectivity. The focus will be placed on food and energy security, investment attraction for infrastructure development and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), increased involvement of women in the workforce, enhanced roles of farmers, emergency response to disasters and crises, green technology, corruption and terrorism prevention, transparency enhancement, trade and investment promotion.

 

APEC member economies agreed on the "Bogor Goals" initiated by Indonesia at the APEC Summit 1994 in Bogor, aiming for free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies.

 

To meet the Bogor Goals, APEC will focus on three areas of trade and investment liberalisation, business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation. In 2013, APEC will concentrate on trade and investment expansion and structural reform. In addition, APEC will centre on the global competitiveness of SMEs to achieve sustainable and equitable growth, on physical connections, including infrastructure development and investment, maritime connectivity, institutional connectivity and people-to-people connectivity.