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Public Urges Economic Integration to Address Global Challenges: Report
Issued by the APEC SecretariatDespite limited understanding of multilateralism, the public recognizes the need for economic integration as essential to tackling global challenges effectively. That is according to the APEC Secretariat’s 2023 perception survey, Communicating the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040, which highlights the public’s call for international cooperation to address global crises.
The survey, conducted in September 2023 obtained the views of more than 7,000 respondents across 18 APEC member economies, identifies trends across the Asia-Pacific in public perceptions towards multilateralism and the role of multilateral organizations.
Capturing the views from a representative sample across wide demographics, the survey explores how APEC’s stakeholders—the region’s citizens—see APEC navigating current challenges with respect to the three economic drivers outlined in the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040: trade and investment; innovation and digitalization; and strong, balanced, secure, sustainable and inclusive growth.
Introduced to senior officials at a symposium on APEC priorities for 2024 in Lima this week, the survey findings are set to help APEC policymakers formulate priorities that resonate with public demand and improve communications with its stakeholders.
The report recommends that to enhance the efficacy of multilateralism, it is essential to highlight its contribution to inclusive and sustainable growth and how it resolves immediate concerns, countering public perceptions of unequal benefits. Beyond the trade of goods and services, the public also expects international trade to foster best practices across economies.
“The public considers it the responsibility of economies to share learning and experience with other economies to help them progress,” said Ambassador Carlos Vasquez, 2024 chair of APEC Senior Officials.
“APEC as a cooperative forum that is an incubator of ideas matches the public’s expectation," Ambassador Vasquez added. "Peru is dedicated to cooperation and consensus throughout the 2024 host year.”
The report further notes the expansion of the role for intergovernmental organizations like APEC. In particular, the public sees their role extending beyond fostering digitalization in trade and investment. They expect them to also address the digital divide, establish best practices, and mitigate security and misinformation risks.
“Digital transformation is seen to bring positive impacts to local economies,” said Daniel Quiroga, vice chair of Edelman Global Advisory Latin America, who presented the survey findings.
“With strong support for digital transformation as a driver of economic progress, it is critical to recognize both its potential for growth and innovation and the concerns it raises regarding cybersecurity, misinformation and job loss,” he added.
In Peru, for example, almost two-thirds of the respondents—11 percent more than the average across APEC—expressed interest in promoting e-commerce and digital trade as a way to boost the digital economy.
Apart from trade, the public expects APEC to play a stronger role in resolving deeper issues including building stronger resilience to health and economic shocks, crises and emergencies, as well as addressing climate change and promoting environmental sustainability.
The report underscores the importance of collaboration among intergovernmental organizations, governments and policymakers to work together to tackle the perceived challenges in policy support and implementation, making inclusive and sustainable growth more achievable and tangible for everyone.
“While there is limited association between the promotion of environmental sustainability, health resilience and APEC, APEC host economies setting priorities that resonate with the public can shift this perception,” said Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, executive director of APEC Secretariat.
“Encouraging results of the Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco proves again the importance and relevance of our forum,” expressed Ambassador Vasquez. “Research institutions, press and media, civil society, international organizations and other stakeholders are particularly critical to the formulation of APEC’s theme for 2024, ‘Empower, Include and Grow’ and the consensus we have achieved to carry this forward.”
For more on this report, download Communicating the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040: Perception Survey 2023.
For further details, please contact:
Rechelle Tangcangco at rbt@apec.org
Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Peru Spotlights Social Dimension for its APEC 2024 Priorities
Issued by the APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting
Facing unprecedented global challenges that have widened inequality and threatened recovery around the region, APEC senior officials gathered in Lima this week to set their priorities for 2024 aimed at developing more balanced, sustainable and inclusive growth in the Asia-Pacific.
The meeting took place just two weeks after APEC economic leaders met in San Francisco, United States, where they committed to bringing resiliency, sustainability, interconnection, innovation and inclusion to the region, as well as working together to respond to the most pressing economic challenges.
Peru will chair APEC for the third time in 2024, hosting more than 160 meetings across five cities including Arequipa, Cusco, Trujillo, Pucallpa and Lima.
Also watch: President Dina Boluarte of Peru Welcomes Officials, Ministers and Leaders to APEC 2024
A symposium on Peru’s proposed priorities and policy focus for next year was held on Monday, bringing together more than 200 stakeholders from the public, private and academia, as well as civil society, international organizations, media and APEC officials.
“We present these priorities not only to the senior officials of the 21 APEC economies, but also to Peruvian society as APEC Peru 2024 could not be successful without the participation of all of our stakeholders to help us achieve the goals stated in the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 and its plan of action,” explained Ambassador Carlos Vasquez, the 2024 Chair of APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting.
Ambassador Vasquez announced Peru’s proposal for the overarching theme for APEC 2024 as “Empower. Include. Grow.” and it covers three priorities:
- Trade and investment for inclusive and interconnected growth.
- Innovation and digitalization to promote transition to the formal and global economy.
- Sustainable growth for resilient development.
“On trade and investment, our intention is to renew the vision of the Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific or FTAAP to consider issues such as inclusion, resilience, connectivity and sustainability along with traditional trade issues, as well as strengthening of the rules-based multilateral trading system,” Ambassador Vasquez added.
Another key focus for the Peru host year will be inclusive growth and how to dive deeper into the informal economy, as well as how member economies can further support the transition to formal economy.
“For the first time in APEC, we will introduce the issue of empowering informal economic actors, especially through innovation and digitalization, as well as enabling the transition to formal economy,” Ambassador Vasquez said.
According to the APEC Policy Support Unit, informality exists everywhere, but its impacts and contributions vary across the Asia-Pacific region. Estimates of informal output across APEC economies range from 8.2 percent of GDP in the United States to 56.6 percent of GDP in the case of Peru.
“And on sustainable development, we will deepen the work on food security to establish principles to prevent and revert food loss and waste, as well as the use of clean and renewable energy sources to achieve economic growth with less carbon emissions,” added Ambassador Vasquez.
In his opening remarks at the Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting plenary on Wednesday, Ambassador Vasquez reminded member economies that the world is changing and there is an urgent need for APEC to continue delivering outcomes based on its pillars and its long-standing commitment to making international cooperation a concrete tool to achieve growth.
“In today's world, prosperity is no longer based on the mere accumulation of material wealth, but on resiliency, inclusion and sustainability,” Ambassador Vasquez continued. “This stresses the importance of human capital as the main asset for economies to grow and develop, we need a people-centered approach to development.”
“We know from data and research that many people including women and groups with untapped potential are involved in the informal sector,” said Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat. “It is crucial for APEC to work on practical measures to include more people into the economy and global value chains, including to facilitate the transition of the informal to formal economy.”
“Our host year will build consensus, ensure continuity and relevance to the APEC economic cooperation agenda, during what continues to be a challenging and uncertain international environment,” Ambassador Vasquez concluded.
Senior officials will meet in the capital city of Lima, Peru in February 2024.
For further details, please contact:
Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org
