APEC Pushes Forward 2012 Priorities

SINGAPORE, March 28 (Bernama) -- The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is taking further steps to enhance the supply chain performance, improve collaboration on innovation and extend opportunities for more robust economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific. This is also the aim of a diverse cluster of high-level APEC trade and investment roundtables and workshops taking place this week in Singapore. The attention is on delivering practical strategies and solutions necessary to achieve trade and investment liberalisation, regional economic integration, innovative growth and supply chain connectivity, which are also among APEC’s top 2012 agenda items. Officials from APEC’s 21 member economies, the private sector, multilateral institutions and a host of other experts will assemble to drive the week-long exchange. Announcing this here Wednesday, chair of the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment, Monica Contreras said trade and policy issues to be addressed include contributions to the multilateral trading system, next generation trade and investment issues, ongoing work to address supply chain bottlenecks, environmental goods and services, private sector engagement and industry dialogues. She said: "Working dialogues will break down APEC’s key trade issues for 2012, focusing on specific developments and opportunities, and offering relevant inputs." A two-day conference on innovation and trade will pinpoint policy prescriptions for how APEC member economies can enable innovative goods, services and business models to flourish and drive productivity and economic growth, with timely input from senior business executives and innovators. A separate two-day supply chain connectivity symposium will examine the design of a new self-assessment survey, and external indicators intended to gauge APEC economies’ progress on supply chain performance, with a further comparative look at international benchmarking methods. Other programmes for the week range from a chemical dialogue with the region’s regulators to a remanufactured goods workshop. The proceedings will be reviewed by APEC’s Committee on Trade and Investment on April 2-3 in Singapore. -- BERNAMA