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APEC leaders back free trade area

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-14 15:55

The Leaders' declaration, made by the leaders of the 21-member APEC forum under the 2010 theme of "Change and Action," undertakes to create a community that prioritizes deepening regional integration by building on existing relationships.

"We will take concrete steps toward realization of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), which is a major instrument to further APEC's regional economic integration agenda," the APEC leaders said in their written declaration.

"An FTAAP should be pursued as a comprehensive free trade agreement by developing and building on ongoing regional undertakings, such as ASEAN+3, ASEAN+6, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), among others," said the official statement.

In addition, establishing a secure economic and social environment, in the best interest of achieving a "higher quality of growth" in the region was put forward by the leaders as being an indispensable element of the member economies' lofty commitment, and resisting protectionism, as suggested in the joint statement made concluding the recent 22nd APEC Ministerial Meeting, was also put forward as another important consideration.

"We should continue to take steps to build a stronger and more resilient global financial system. We remain committed to maintaining open markets and fighting protectionism. We reaffirm our common resolve to support the recovery in a collaborative and coordinated way,"  said the declaration.

APEC's new vision for a collective growth strategy, centered around the proposition of creating a sprawling Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) in the region, encompasses myriad plans which span extensive issues, ranging from structural reform and human security, to human resource and the development of innovation and entrepreneurship.

APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy was set forth as the forum's " first substantial effort to provide a comprehensive long-term framework for promoting high-quality growth in the region," according to the leaders' joint statement.

"We will implement the Growth Strategy out to 2015, focusing on the five desired attributes of balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative, and secure growth. Our Growth Strategy includes an Action Plan that encompasses work elements on structural reform; human resource and entrepreneurship development; green growth; a knowledge-based economy; and human security," the leaders announced.

The leaders concluded that the APEC forum has become an "engine for progress in the world's most economically dynamic region, whose growth has driven rising prosperity for all across the globe. "

The leaders pledged their continued commitment to pursuing an even more closely integrated regional economy and strong, sustainable, and balanced growth in the region, including "taking concrete steps toward realization of an FTAAP that should include next generation trade and investment issues, and to meet new opportunities and challenges in the 21st Century through implementation of the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy."

According to the latest data released by the Japanese government, APEC accounts for 53 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 44.4 percent of global trade by value. The member economies represent 40 percent of the world's population.

Formed in 1989, APEC was designed to help bring down trade barriers.  

In 1994, at the Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, the APEC Economic Leaders' Declaration of Common Resolve (Bogor Declaration) was adopted. The declaration included the Bogor Goals, which pledged APEC's intent to achieve free and open trade and investment by 2010 for industrialized economies, and 2020 for developing economies.

It groups Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Taiwan, the United States, and seven ASEAN members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The next annual APEC Leaders Meeting will be held in Hawaii, the United States, in November 2011.