APEC Should Be Part Of Economic Solution

Medan, N Sumatra, July 1 (Antara) - Indonesian Minister of Research and Technology Gusti M Hatta has proposed the science and technology cooperation among APEC`s economists as a part of the solutions to increase economic growth in Asia-Pacific. "I hope the science and technology cooperation could be the solutions of economic crisis, to meet the people`s needs and increase the economic growth in Asia-Pacific," said Gusti at the opening ceremony of the Third Senior Official Meeting (SOM3) of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) here on Monday. According to Gusti, there are three most important points that should be enhanced through the APEC`s cooperation. First, improvement of science and technology capacities through trainings, workshops and sharing of experiences. Second, creating innovative atmosphere by providing remuneration incentive, intellectual property rights and royalty`s guarantee. Third, enhancing connectivity among the APEC`s economists. The minister gave his opening speech in the Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI) working group forum that was co-chaired by Indonesia and New Zealand. The PPSTI was integrated with SOM III agenda during June 22 to July 6, 2013. The Co-Chairman of PPSTI, Agus Rusyana (Indonesia) and Peter Gluckman (New Zealand), noted the result of this meeting should be implemented into a real action-plan to support the economic development in Asia-Pacific. "The core of this forum is we want to push the APEC`s regional governments in using scientific researches to determine their policies of science and technology and innovation," said Agus. Meanwhile, Gluckman added each APEC economy has predominance and deficiency, either on its upstream or downstream policies, hence through the cooperation they could complete each other. APEC`s PPSTI is a transformation of APEC`s 42th Industrial Science and Technology Working Group (ISTWG) held during APEC Summit 2012 in Russia. Prior to the APEC Summit 2013 to be held in Bali, Indonesia, several relevant meetings have been held including SOM I in Jakarta, SOM II in Surabaya, East Java, and other meetings related to APEC`s working groups. APEC`s SOM III in Medan is participated by 18 delegations from 21 APEC economies, which are Indonesia, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States of America, Peru, and Vietnam.