Free trade, investment should remain APEC’s priority

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MANILA: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 21-member countries needs to main its top priority in realising the Bogor Goals of free trade and investment by 2020.

This can be accelerated through tariff reduction commitments and resisting all forms of protectionist measures, says International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

“Both efforts are key to facilitate business within and across the borders,” he said at the APEC Ministers Meeting here on Monday.

He stressed on the need for APEC to continue to ensure regional economic growth, prosperity, sustainability and security, amid challenging global economic developments.

“This is to guarantee that trade and investment activities continue to grow and benefit not only the business community but also the people at large in a balanced, inclusive and sustainable manner,” he said.

During the meeting, Mustapa expressed optimism that deeper regional economic integration would be achieved with the implementation of regional undertakings among APEC members and beyond.

APEC consist of 21 members namely, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam.

“The work on the Collective Strategic Study on APEC’s contribution towards realisation of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) is important given that negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have been concluded.

“We recognise that TPP and the Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP) are the building blocks for the FTAAP but this will not diminish our support for multilateral trading systems,” said Mustapa.

Malaysia is part of the drafting committee of the FTAAP Collective Strategic Study which is expected to be tabled at the next APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Peru.

Meanwhile, Malaysia also commended the Philippines for its focus on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) this year.

“It is important for bigger companies to ensure that MSMEs are included in their global value chain and supply chains, and perhaps we must encourage multinationals to mentor MSMEs, thus assisting in their capacity building and enabling them to become global players,” said Mustapa.

In 2014, APEC economies accounted for 40 per cent of the world population, 57 per cent of world Gross Domestic Product (US$44.1 billion), 48.5 per cent of global trade (US$18.5 billion) and 53.1 per cent of global foreign direct investments (FDIs) inflow (US$652 billion).

For Malaysia, APEC economies constitute 75.9 per cent (RM1.1 trillion) of the country’s total trade and 34.4 per cent (RM12.2 billion) of total FDIs in Malaysia while approved projects with APEC participation in the manufacturing sector amounted to RM27.7 billion (70.1 per cent). — Bernama