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Public and Private Groups Unite for Collective Action Against Corruption
Issued by the APEC Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts Working GroupEthical business conduct is vital to the sustainable growth of APEC economies and the competitiveness of the region’s businesses. High standards in business ethics are crucial to creating an enabling environment and contributing to the sustainable growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Public and private sector experts convened this week in Seattle to share best practices and innovative government strategies to encourage ethical business practices and identify opportunities to pilot strategies in APEC member economies.
Efforts to promote ethical business conduct is particularly important to the region as governments and economies recover from COVID-19. While businesses are obliged to adopt ethical practices and compliance activities, there is an opportunity for governments to take proactive steps to encourage anti-corruption prevention measures. APEC members have committed to bolster and promote public-private partnerships recognizing the important role of the private sector in fighting corruption.
“We consistently bring in the private sector as critical actors in the fight against corruption to help level the playing field and improve the international business climate,” said Richard Nephew, Chair of the APEC Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts Working Group (ACTWG). “This is especially critical for small businesses, which often do not have the same resources to mitigate credit risks as larger entities.”
Central to the discussion were the role of governments in encouraging business conduct, government-supported business ethics training and SME capacity building, enforcement recognition and incentives, regulatory systems and practices, public procurement, as well as anti-corruption collective action initiatives.
Representatives from the public sector illustrated the diverse ways governments are collaborating with different stakeholders to support ethical business conduct. They also detailed cases and best practices, as well as explored areas of possible future cooperation.
Private sector experts shared the challenges and opportunities in collaborating with the public sector to promote ethical business conduct. A number of small business leaders also joined the dialogue.
The APEC region is home to more than 150 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), representing around two-thirds of the total job market and contributing between 40 to 60 percent of APEC economies’ GDP. Often operating in difficult environments, they are highly vulnerable to corruption in all its forms.
MSMEs mostly lack resources, knowledge and experience to implement effective anti-corruption measures and comply with international standards and applicable legal rules. Their growing challenges can also stem from the lack of transparency and instability of regulation and operating practices in the public sector.
Nephew, who is also the US Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption, emphasized the need for cooperation to take proactive steps to encourage ethical business conduct as a corruption prevention measure. “Broadly speaking, if we are to foster fair and inclusive and successful economies, we need to work together.”
“Ethical business conduct strengthens the quality of and confidence in products and services while fostering innovation by enhancing trusted collaboration and spurring new investment," Nephew concluded. "The collective prosperity of APEC member economies is supported when ethical business conduct is implemented through high-standard, sector-specific best practices."
The public-private dialogue, a collaboration between the ACTWG and the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group, was built on previously detailed activities under the APEC Business Ethics for SMEs Forum that aims to promote awareness and understanding of government strategies to promote ethical business practices.
For further details, please contact:
Rechelle Tangcangco at rbt@apec.org
Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org
Secretary Vilsack’s Statement on the 8th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting
Issued by the 8th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting
The United States Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack shared with agriculture and food ministers a statement that reflects the outcomes of the 8th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting held in Seattle on Thursday.
Read the APEC 2023 Food Security Ministerial Chair Statement
The statement underscores the need for member economies to unite behind common principles and take action to enhance global food security while addressing the causes and consequences of climate change.
It also highlights the importance of sustainable productivity growth along with economic, social, and environmental dimensions to be addressed in a balanced way and in line with member economies’ circumstances, as well as the role of investment and international exchanges in research, technology, innovation, knowledge and food systems’ management practices.
Secretary Vilsack’s statement reflects ministers’ commitment to the full and equal participation and leadership of people with untapped economic potential, as well as the promotion of rural development, livelihoods, and wellbeing for all.
The statement also notes ministers’ aspiration to ensure stewardship of the natural environment and to increase the resilience of the region’s agri-food systems through sustainable actions that address climate change
For further details, please contact:
Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org
Secretary Vilsack: Innovation and Technology are Key in Building Resilient Food System
Issued by the 8th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting
As food insecurity grows globally due to the rising costs, conflicts and climate change that disrupt production and supply chains, APEC member economies seek to increase agricultural productivity through innovative technology and sustainable practices.
The number of people going hungry has been gradually rising since 2015. In 2022, food insecurity increased significantly with around 735 million people facing hunger around the world, or 122 million more people than in 2019, before the pandemic.
Agriculture and food ministers around the Asia-Pacific region convened in Seattle on Thursday to step-up measures that will feed an increasing population with limited resources due to the challenges posed by a changing climate.
“It is important to recognize that food and nutrition security requires food be simultaneously available, accessible, stable, as well as affordable,” said Thomas Vilsack, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, as he addressed his counterparts at the opening of the 8th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting in Seattle on Thursday. “Constrictions within any of these components can result in food and nutrition insecurity. ”
“Increasing agricultural productivity is also essential to meeting the needs of a growing global population,” said Secretary Vilsack who is the chair of the meeting. “In order to produce more, while minimizing environmental impacts, we must leverage innovation and foster new ways of doing things.”
“Only by leveraging innovation and science, including biotechnology, can we provide our farmers, fishers, foresters and other producers with the tools they need to improve productivity, sustainability and resilience.”
Secretary Vilsack highlighted that these technological advances must be made accessible to producers of all sizes and types in all parts of the world. ”Open markets and science-driven regulatory regimes are also critical to innovative new technologies being available.”
Secretary Vilsack stressed that climate change adaptation and mitigation, and sustainable agricultural productivity growth are also inextricably linked to food and nutrition security further underscoring the critical role innovation plays in the future to address these challenges.
“Accelerating agricultural productivity growth to reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is also imperative,” Secretary Vilsack noted. “Without agricultural productivity growth, meeting the world’s current and future food needs would require increased use of natural resources, including the expansion of agriculture into forests and other critical ecosystems.”
“Such an expansion would threaten our ability to meet GHG emissions reduction goals, even if other human activities were dramatically curtailed. The consequences of failing to accelerate agricultural productivity growth could be dire.”
He explained that changes to the agricultural and food systems can only happen at the needed scale and speed if farmers and other rural stakeholders reap the benefits of sustainable climate-smart policies and practices as they strive to maximize their productivity and profitability.
“The time is in fact now, and together we can achieve sustainable, equitable and resilient agri-food systems, which is the premise of our agriculture theme for this host year,” Secretary Vilsack concluded.
For further details, please contact:
Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org
