ID :
136581
Sat, 08/07/2010 - 21:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/136581
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APEC affirms need for structural reforms for balanced growth+
BEPPU, Japan, Aug. 7 Kyodo -
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum affirmed during a high-level
meeting in Japan on Saturday the need to implement structural reforms and step
up cooperation with the Group of 20 major economies to achieve balanced growth
in the region, Japanese government officials said.
The idea was agreed on by the representatives of the 21-member economies as
they gathered in Oita Prefecture to discuss a long-term comprehensive growth
strategy that aims to secure balanced and sustainable economic growth in the
region following the global financial crisis triggered in 2008.
Compiling the growth strategy, the first such initiative for the forum since
its launch in 1989, is expected to be one of the key outcomes of the annual
APEC leaders' summit to be held in Yokohama in November.
To implement the envisioned strategy, participants have agreed to formulate
action plans, and Japanese trade minister Masayuki Naoshima said after the
first day of the two-day APEC Growth Strategy High-Level Policy Round Table
that 2015 could be a possible timeline to report to APEC leaders about
progress.
But Japan, as chair of APEC, may face a bumpy road ahead in working out the
strategy, while it is eager to devise a ''substantial and politically
impressive'' one.
''APEC members have deep economic connections, but the members' actual economic
conditions are extremely different, and it is not easy to compile an APEC
growth strategy in that kind (of situation),'' Asian Development Bank President
Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters prior to attending the meeting.
Besides Kuroda, experts from academia and business also attended the high-level
meeting along with ministerial-level officials from Hong Kong and Thailand,
according to the officials.
''After being hit by the financial crisis, the Asia-Pacific region cannot
return to 'growth as usual'...we must cooperate to improve the quality of
growth,'' Naoshima, the economy, trade and industry minister who is chairing
the meeting in the hot spring resort city of Beppu jointly with national policy
minister Satoshi Arai, said at the outset of the event.
Balanced growth aims to unwind imbalances within and across APEC economies
through macroeconomic policies and structural reforms and is part of the five
aspects the strategy would focus on. The four other pillars are inclusive,
sustainable, innovative and secure growth.
Naoshima told reporters after Saturday's discussion that participants shared
the view that APEC should promote structural reforms, such as regulatory reform
and social insurance system development, and that they should ''actively
support'' the G-20 framework.
The G-20 developed and emerging economies agreed in June in their summit in
Toronto to pursue structural reforms as part of efforts to achieve a stronger,
more sustainable and balanced growth.
The need for a regional growth strategy came against the backdrop of the global
financial crisis triggered in 2008, which showed that market mechanisms alone
would not result in desired growth in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the
Japanese officials.
The region is also facing the need to address such issues as opportunity
disparities within and between economies as APEC continues to promote free and
open trade, as well as regional economic integration.
The participants also touched Saturday on ''sustainable'' growth that seeks to
be compatible with global efforts to protect the environment, as well as
''secure'' growth, which means providing a secure environment necessary for
economic activity.
They think it important to enhance cooperation on energy-efficiency policies
for sustainable growth, and that food security is important for secure growth,
according to Naoshima.
APEC, which accounts for more than half the world's economic output and 44
percent of its trade by value, involves such members as Australia, China,
Japan, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and seven members
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Japan assumed the rotating chair of the forum this year for the first time
since 1995 and is hosting a series of meetings nationwide.
==Kyodo
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum affirmed during a high-level
meeting in Japan on Saturday the need to implement structural reforms and step
up cooperation with the Group of 20 major economies to achieve balanced growth
in the region, Japanese government officials said.
The idea was agreed on by the representatives of the 21-member economies as
they gathered in Oita Prefecture to discuss a long-term comprehensive growth
strategy that aims to secure balanced and sustainable economic growth in the
region following the global financial crisis triggered in 2008.
Compiling the growth strategy, the first such initiative for the forum since
its launch in 1989, is expected to be one of the key outcomes of the annual
APEC leaders' summit to be held in Yokohama in November.
To implement the envisioned strategy, participants have agreed to formulate
action plans, and Japanese trade minister Masayuki Naoshima said after the
first day of the two-day APEC Growth Strategy High-Level Policy Round Table
that 2015 could be a possible timeline to report to APEC leaders about
progress.
But Japan, as chair of APEC, may face a bumpy road ahead in working out the
strategy, while it is eager to devise a ''substantial and politically
impressive'' one.
''APEC members have deep economic connections, but the members' actual economic
conditions are extremely different, and it is not easy to compile an APEC
growth strategy in that kind (of situation),'' Asian Development Bank President
Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters prior to attending the meeting.
Besides Kuroda, experts from academia and business also attended the high-level
meeting along with ministerial-level officials from Hong Kong and Thailand,
according to the officials.
''After being hit by the financial crisis, the Asia-Pacific region cannot
return to 'growth as usual'...we must cooperate to improve the quality of
growth,'' Naoshima, the economy, trade and industry minister who is chairing
the meeting in the hot spring resort city of Beppu jointly with national policy
minister Satoshi Arai, said at the outset of the event.
Balanced growth aims to unwind imbalances within and across APEC economies
through macroeconomic policies and structural reforms and is part of the five
aspects the strategy would focus on. The four other pillars are inclusive,
sustainable, innovative and secure growth.
Naoshima told reporters after Saturday's discussion that participants shared
the view that APEC should promote structural reforms, such as regulatory reform
and social insurance system development, and that they should ''actively
support'' the G-20 framework.
The G-20 developed and emerging economies agreed in June in their summit in
Toronto to pursue structural reforms as part of efforts to achieve a stronger,
more sustainable and balanced growth.
The need for a regional growth strategy came against the backdrop of the global
financial crisis triggered in 2008, which showed that market mechanisms alone
would not result in desired growth in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the
Japanese officials.
The region is also facing the need to address such issues as opportunity
disparities within and between economies as APEC continues to promote free and
open trade, as well as regional economic integration.
The participants also touched Saturday on ''sustainable'' growth that seeks to
be compatible with global efforts to protect the environment, as well as
''secure'' growth, which means providing a secure environment necessary for
economic activity.
They think it important to enhance cooperation on energy-efficiency policies
for sustainable growth, and that food security is important for secure growth,
according to Naoshima.
APEC, which accounts for more than half the world's economic output and 44
percent of its trade by value, involves such members as Australia, China,
Japan, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and seven members
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Japan assumed the rotating chair of the forum this year for the first time
since 1995 and is hosting a series of meetings nationwide.
==Kyodo
