APEC participants to continue forming free trade zone

LIMA, November 21. /TASS/. Participants in the 2016 summit conference of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have reaffirmed their intention to continue formation of a free trade zone in the area. They stated their plans in a declaration issued at the end of the APEC summit in Peru on Sunday. "Following the path established in the Beijing Roadmap for APEC’s Contribution to the Realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) in 2014, we reiterate our commitment to the eventual realization of the FTAAP as a major instrument to further deepen APEC's regional economic integration agenda," the declaration said. "With this vision, we endorse the Collective Strategic Study on Issues Related to the Realization of FTAAP and its Executive Summary. Furthermore, we endorse the Recommendations of the Study as the Lima Declaration on FTAAP (annexed to this Declaration)," the participants in the summit said. "We commend APEC officials for their hard work on finalizing the Collective Strategic Study," the document indicated. "We instruct officials to implement the Lima Declaration on FTAAP, in particular to develop, and implement work programs towards the realization of the FTAAP. We look forward to regular progress reports on implementation of these work programs and APEC’s collective readiness to build capacity to realize the FTAAP." "Furthermore, based on the Study and other APEC work as possible references, we instruct officials to consider next steps that can be taken towards the eventual realization of an FTAAP," the APEC leaders said. Read more