APEC countries raise issue of lifting restrictions in service trade - Russian Economic Development Minister

MANILA, November 19. /TASS/. Lifting current restrictions in service trade has become one of the main issues raised at the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation /APEC/ leaders that just took place in Manila /Philippines/, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev said on Thursday. "At many bilateral meetings the emphasis was put /and today the leaders have also spoken about it/ on not only commodity trade but on service trade as well. What is very important is that its share is on the rise, and here the range of discretion is less than in commodity trade," he said. Ulyukayev added that those issues were raised both by his Indonesian and Philippine colleagues at bilateral meetings before the summit. In this regard preparation of skilled workforce should be one of the areas to focus on, the Minister said. Also, next year when Peru will host the APEC summit, services will be highly emphasized, he said. "It’s services that are most of all important now. The agenda will touch upon tourism, the potential for coupling various integrational projects, including Trans-Pacific Partnership," Ulyukayev said. The Minister also said that the issue of "human dimension of development" was also discussed at the summit. "This concerns the role of women, small and medium enterprises. What is interesting is that another abbreviation is used now: we’re used to SML /small, medium, large enterprises/ while now it’s MSML /micro, small, medium and large enterprises/, which potentially expands the scope for startup capital, initial development of participants," he added. Read more