The APEC Leaders’ Growth Strategy

In the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held in Japan, the participated summits have agreed about the action plan of Asia Pacific Region. It is cited as follows;

1. Formulating a Growth Strategy to Match a Changing Economic Environment
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies’ collective efforts have greatly contributed to unrivaled growth and rapid economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, by promoting free and open trade and investment and strengthening regional economic integration (REI). The APEC economies are now more connected and integrated than ever before. Trade and investment liberalization and facilitation will continue to be a principal driver for creating growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the same time, the region has changed significantly since APEC was established in 1989, and economic integration has highlighted difficult new challenges, along with tremendous new opportunities.

 
2. Five Growth Attributes

APEC aims to achieve Balanced, Inclusive, Sustainable, Innovative, and Secure Growth. These desired regional growth attributes are deeply interconnected.

Balanced Growth: We seek growth across and within our economies through macroeconomic policies and structural reforms that will gradually unwind imbalances and raise potential output.

APEC economies have played a critical role in stabilizing the global financial and economic crisis by implementing extraordinary fiscal measures and rapidly easing monetary policies. APEC supports the G20’s global coordination role, and recognizes the importance of maintaining growth-oriented policies that support increases in aggregate demand that will sustain the economic recovery.

APEC economies will strengthen multilateral cooperation to promote external sustainability and pursue the full range of policies conducive to reducing excessive imbalances and maintaining current account imbalances at sustainable levels.

3. Action Plan for the APEC Growth Strategy

a. Structural Reform Structural reform, along with appropriate macroeconomic policies, is essential in achieving strong, sustained, and balanced economic growth. The region has made progress in this regard over the past five years, including through our Leaders’ Agenda to Implement Structural Reform (LAISR). In order to achieve more balanced and inclusive growth, APEC economies, under Senior Officials’guidance and monitoring, should implement the APEC New Strategy for Structural Reform (ANSSR), which sets forth extended priority areas for structural reform, including promoting quality education, increasing labor market opportunities, promoting SME development, enhancing opportunities for the vulnerable and women, and promoting effective social safety net programs and financial market development, in addition to continued efforts to improve market efficiencies, as pursued under the prior LAISR program.

b. Human Resource and Entrepreneurship Development Senior Officials should guide and monitor the implementation of the “Action Plan for Developing Human Resources, Vigorously Promoting Employment, and Achieving Inclusive Growth” adopted at the APEC Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting in Beijing in September 2010, which calls for laying the foundation for the human resources and businesses that will lead to new growth in our region by adopting employment-oriented macroeconomic policies, improving education, and developing human capacity. Senior Officials should also guide and monitor the implementation of the “Strategy for Reinvigorating Economic Growth with Dual Engine: SME and Asia-Pacific Economy,” adopted at the APEC SME Ministerial Meeting in Gifu in October 2010, including the Gifu Initiative, which aims to enhance SMEs’ access to global markets in order to ultimately ensure SMEs’ further growth and development. In all these activities, entrepreneurship, venture finance and financial inclusion, as well as better economic opportunities for women, should be encouraged.

 c. Green Growth

Senior Officials should design and implement an APEC Green Growth Plan. This will enhance and facilitate coordination of APEC activities to address climate change by promoting climate-friendly, low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies through upgraded policy initiatives, expanded capacity-building, and public-private efforts to foster green industries through finance, trade promotion, green jobs education and training, and facilitating technology development and diffusion. The Green Growth Plan should also outline enhanced efforts to build APEC economies’ capacity to assess their own greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, and water conservation, promote trade and investment in EGS, and design and implement plans to rationalize and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption over the medium term.

The APEC Leaders' Week meetings, held on Nov. 7-14 in Japan's second largest city of Yokohama, also included the APEC Business Advisory Council meeting on Nov. 8-10, annual Ministerial Meeting on Nov. 10-11 and a CEO Summit on Nov. 12-13.

• APEC CEO Summit 2010 Yokohama Official website
  http://www.apec-ceosummit2010.com 
• APEC Japan 2010 Official website
  http://www.apec2010.go.jp/en/