13 February 2015 – Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) Senior Officials discussed the issues on advancing regional economic integration (REI) from February 6 to 7 at the First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1) in Clark, Pampanga.
REI issues include support for the Multilateral Trading System/World Trade Organization (WTO), strengthening connectivity and infrastructure development, services, and regulatory cooperation. “Advancing Regional Economic Integration” is one of this year’s priorities under the APEC 2015 overarching theme of “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World.”
The Meeting touched on the following issues related to REI:
Multilateral Trading System (MTS)/WTO and Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP)
Senior Officials issued a statement in support of the Multilateral Trading System/WTO by urging member economies to notify the WTO of their acceptance of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) within the framework of their domestic regulation.
Senior Officials also welcomed the establishment of a Task Force to lead the work on the collective strategic study on the FTAAP.
Regulatory Cooperation
Recognizing the importance of domestic regulations in advancing or impeding trade, Senior Officials discussed the review of the APEC New Strategy for Structural Reform (ANSSR).
ANNSR covers good regulatory practices on labor market opportunities, open and transparent and competitive markets; SME/women development; social safety net programs, and, better functioning financial markets.
The Philippines will host an APEC Ministerial Meeting on Structural Reform in September.
Services
Cognizant of the valuable contribution of services to economies’ GDP and overall economic growth, APEC Senior Officials discussed the development of the APEC Services Cooperation Framework to provide a common direction and coherence to APEC’s services trade. This effort will contribute to regional integration which is one of the built-in agendas within APEC with the end goal of making the flow of goods, investments, services and people within the APEC region easier. END