APEC Steers Greener Future for Automotive Industry, Experts will Meet in Detroit

Issued by the APEC Automotive Dialogue

Detroit, The United States, 14 May 2023

APEC member economies are steering the region’s automotive industry and mobility development to a greener, safer, more sustainable and resilient future of the sector through regulatory alignment and to accelerate the uptake of new technology vehicles.

Officials and senior auto industry representatives from 21 APEC member economies will convene in Detroit, Michigan in the United States from 19-20 May. Known also as the Motor City due to the long history of the American auto industry, the dialogue in Detroit will be co-hosted by the American Automotive Policy Council and the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.

“We look forward to constructive discussions on the opportunities and challenges facing auto manufacturers, their supply chain partners and their workers, as we help shape the future of mobility at home and abroad,” said Matt Blunt, President of the American Automotive Policy Council, and the co-chair of this year’s APEC Automotive Dialogue. 

“In the traditional home of the US auto industry, APEC delegates will be exposed to some of the most innovative and groundbreaking research for electric vehicles and autonomous vehicle technology is being developed,” added Blunt.

The dialogue will feature APEC members’ latest updates on automotive trade and policy developments. It will also focus on the growth and development of electric vehicles and its battery supply chains, impacts of the transition to electric vehicles on suppliers and autoworkers, and how future mobility can benefit a wide variety of populations throughout the APEC region. 

“A sustainable auto industry and a safe, green smart and reliable urban transportation will significantly impact our economies and communities in the region,” said Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat. “We need to strengthen our efforts in transitioning to a low-emission auto industry and transportation future through close partnership between governments, academia and the private sector.”

Preceding the Automotive Dialogue in Detroit, the United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will host his counterparts for the 11^th APEC Transportation Ministers’ Meeting on 15-17 May.

The dialogue will also feature a tour of Mcity, the research test facility for connected and automated vehicles, located on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 

The cutting-edge work being conducted at Mcity are supported by an innovative public-private partnership network that includes federal grants, direct funding from US-based automakers and suppliers, as well as support from numerous auto industry stakeholders around the globe.

For further details, please contact:

Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org

 

Applications Open for the 2023 APEC Healthy Women Research Prize

Issued by the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy

Singapore, 28 March 2023

The 2023 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize (HWHE) calls for applications to showcase outstanding research seeking to improve women’s health and economic participation.

Inaugurated in 2018 during Chile’s hosting year of APEC and supported by Merck, the prize recognizes research that enables policymakers, business leaders and other stakeholders to shape policies that will further boost women’s full economic participation.

“Building an evidence base on the reality of women’s experiences with regard to their  health, and how this impacts their full and equal economic participation, and assists policy makers to identify the best reforms to address health related barriers preventing the participation of women in the workforce to their optimal levels,” said Chantelle Stratford, Chair of APEC’s Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy.

“Understanding the interaction between these factors underpins our ability to chart an inclusive path forward through economic growth for women and men alike,” Stratford added.

The annual prize aims to encourage the creation of sex-disaggregated data and gender-based research within the APEC member economies.

“As women across the world continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic’s social and economic effects, more research is needed to support solutions and advancements that allow women to stay and grow in the workforce,” said Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat.

In 2022, the research prize was awarded to Dr Ruimin Zheng, Director of the Women's Health Care Department at China’s National Center for Women and Children's Health. Her innovative study addressed the high incidence of maternal depression among women in low-income and middle-income regions.

Read: Research Addressing Postnatal Depression Wins APEC Healthy Women Prize

Dr Zheng’s evidence-based strategy included recommendations such as the implementation of routine depression screenings across the entire birth process in order to reduce women’s disease burden and economic loss due to depression during childbirth.

Applicants to the 2023 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize can be individuals or teams, with the stipulation that one official participant be from an APEC member economy. 

Applicants do not need to come from academia, as long as the research is evidence-based and addresses at least one of the pillars outlined in the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Policy Toolkit: 

• Workplace health and safety
• Health awareness and access
• Sexual and reproductive health
• Gender-based violence
• Work/life balance

The prize winner will receive USD 20,000 and may choose to present their research to APEC gender experts in the public and private sectors on the margins of the 2023 Women and the Economy Forum, hosted by the United States. Two runners-up will receive USD 5,000 each.

“When we spotlight research concerning barriers to women’s economic participation as well as benefits to investing in women’s health and wellbeing, we are better equipped to encourage decisionmakers and leaders across economies to adopt a gendered lens to policymaking,” said Hong Chow, Executive Vice President and Head of China and International of Merck Healthcare.

“Elevating this research enables governments, industry and civil society to improve women’s health so women can join, rise and thrive in the workforce,” Chow concluded.

Interested candidates may access the prize application form through this link. The application deadline is Saturday, 3 June 2023.

For more information, please visit the APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies website or contact HWHE@crowell.com with any questions.

For further details, please contact:

Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 atmc@apec.org

APEC update

 

We are pleased to launch the APEC 2023 Priorities Website presenting the three policy priorities of the United States host year under the theme, ‘Creating a Sustainable Future for All.’ Explore the website to learn more about this year’s priorities of Interconnected, Innovative and Inclusive.

APEC News newsalert

APEC Bulletin 10 March 2023


How Digital Innovation is Helping Business Mobility


Mobility and digitalization are key priorities for the BMG along with expanding ABTC's value for the region’s businesses.

Travel requires a lot of planning, especially when it comes to frequent international travel. Not all destinations have the same entry and visa requirements and it is not unusual for travelers to find themselves stuck in long immigration lines on arrival and departure.

For frequent business travelers, the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) is worth considering. Its main purpose is to streamline the entry process into APEC member economies, making travel for business easier and immigration processing faster.

The ABTC scheme saves costs for businesses and governments—increasing efficiency by reducing cost and time spent applying for visas and through fast-track immigration processing at airports—fueling its growing popularity. As the ABTC allows for multiple entries to multiple APEC member economies, users’ travel costs within the APEC region have fallen by 38 percent. Businesses pay 27 percent less in application fees and 52 percent less in immigration processing. For many small businesses, these costs cannot be ignored. Today, there are more than 340,000 active ABTCs across the APEC region.

Also watch: The Future of Business Mobility is Digital: Sally McLean, Convenor of the APEC Business Mobility Group

The Business Mobility Group (BMG), the group responsible for the ABTC, was formed in 1997 when the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) made the facilitation of business travel a priority. Since the BMG’s establishment, the group has regularly consulted with the business community.

The development of the ABTC stands as one of the BMG’s biggest achievements in its collaboration with ABAC and provides business people faster and easier entry to participating economies in the Asia Pacific, Central and South America, the United States and Canada.

Sally McLean, BMG convenor, outlined that the primary function of the group has “been to manage the ABTC scheme and discuss how it could evolve. Over the years, we’ve seen the evolution [of the ABTC scheme] that has been supported by the group. All 21 economies have a part in how the ABTC scheme operates.”

The BMG convenor also highlighted some of the group’s priorities for 2023 including mobility and digitalization as well as the steps member economies are taking to improve the ABTC scheme and expand its value for the region’s businesses, including small and medium enterprises.
The BMG launched the virtual ABTC in November 2020 and by 1 March 2021, all member economies agreed to allow entry to virtual ABTC cardholders.

“The primary responsibility or role of the ABTC is to provide for seamless travel for business people—by and large—across the APEC economies.”
Digital advancements in processes streamline and strengthen management of the ABTC scheme, as well as enhance security and reduce costs for both users and their economies.

“The virtual ABTC is an innovation to be able to digitalize the ABTC, essentially. Taking it out of your wallet or your purse and putting it onto your smartphones. So really it is an excellent innovation that has a whole lot of security parameters that are superior to having a [physical] ABTC.
“At this stage…10 economies have signed up to [the virtual ABTC], which is really great. Among some of those economies, Australia and New Zealand, for example, we now only issue a virtual ABTC, so we no longer print the physical card.

A number of other economies will provide both [the physical and virtual ABTC] to be able to support the transition of their business travelers to the virtual card. But all economies in 2021, agreed to accept the virtual card.”
Member economies that have transitioned to the virtual platform so far include: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, and Thailand.
The BMG is also focused on ensuring opportunities to travel for business travel with the ABTC are inclusive.

“Importantly, those business travelers, the eligibility associated with business travelers is quite broad. Some economies will approve an ABTC for startup businesses. You don’t have to be small, medium or large enterprise to actually have access to seamless travel into the APEC economies, which is fantastic.”

The safe and seamless facilitation of business travel across borders is also a key priority of the BMG.

“The BMG places great focus on having conversations about how economies are moving to be able to open up their borders, to enable that business travel to be undertaken, and move into digitalization and contactless travel.

There are a whole lot of reasons why you would move into digitalization, security being one of those elements…[and] the efficiency of the process. Having those technologies in place does certainly make it faster to be able to get through immigration checkpoints…[Digitalization] has [also] become particularly relevant in a health context…”

APEC latest news

OUT NOW: Outcomes and Outlook 2022/2023

APEC Posts Lower Economic Growth, Weaker Trade Activity

Issued by the APEC Policy Support Unit

Palm Springs, The United States, 28 February 2023

The Asia-Pacific’s economy grew 2.6 percent in 2022, a decline from 6.1 percent growth in 2021, according to a new report published by the APEC Policy Support Unit.

The region’s economy is expected to pick up in the short term with gross domestic product (GDP) projected to expand by 3.1 percent this year.

“The combination of an enduring pandemic, high inflation coupled with rising interest rates and debts, as well as the ongoing geopolitical issues resulted in a significant slowdown in the global economy during 2022,” explained Carlos Kuriyama, the newly appointed director for the APEC Policy Support Unit.

“Both consumers and investors were cautious last year due to uncertainties and the gloomy economic outlook,” Kuriyama continued. “As a result, demand and investment activities progressed slowly.”

Inflation in APEC reached 5.8 percent in 2022. This is the highest inflation rate since the financial crisis in 2008, when it peaked at 6.6 percent. The report projects APEC’s inflation to taper down to 3.9 percent this year, declining further to 2.7 percent in 2024.

“The sustained and broad-based increase in prices promoted an aggressive and synchronized response from monetary authorities across the world,” said Rhea C. Hernando, a senior researcher with the Policy Support Unit. “In APEC, we are seeing the majority of central banks increase interest rates to dampen price pressures.”

Rising uncertainties also weakened merchandise trade in APEC during the first nine months of 2022. Growth in the volume of APEC’s merchandise exports was flat, while merchandise imports grew by 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year, when these expanded by 14.4 percent and 16.1 percent respectively. Meanwhile the value of merchandise trade’s exports and imports grew by 14.5 percent, showing more resilience due to relatively high energy prices in 2022, driven in turn by supply shocks.

“We expect a modest growth of trade volumes in APEC this year, following the slowdown in global demand” Kuriyama added.

In contrast, commercial services trade performed better in 2022, with exports and imports growing by 13 percent and 15.6 percent respectively in the second quarter of last year. The strong expansion in trade in this sector was propelled by travel services, which increased by 60 percent as economies progressively reopened borders and relaxed COVID-19 restrictions.

Officials from the 21 APEC member economies are convening in Palm Springs, California, to kick off the first technical meeting cluster of APEC 2023. The United States is hosting APEC this year and will drive the forum’s agenda under the theme “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All.”

“Taking advantage of the upcoming meetings in Palm Springs, member economies should prioritize efforts to coordinate clear and consistent policies,” Kuriyama said. “Coordinated macroeconomic policies play an important role in addressing the rising cost of living”.

“In addition, keeping trade free, fair and open, and boosting trade facilitation could reduce the pressure on food and energy prices considerably, mitigating the adverse impact on food security and poverty levels” he continued.

To read more about the revamped APEC Regional Trends Analysis, visit this page.

 For further details, please contact:

Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org

APEC Officials Strengthen Sustainable and Inclusive Growth for All

APEC Officials Strengthen Sustainable and Inclusive Growth for AllIssued by the APEC Senior Officials' Meeting
Palm Springs, The United States, 28 February 2023

Senior officials from the 21 member economies are convening in Palm Springs, fostering cooperation to build a resilient and interconnected region that advances broad-based economic prosperity, enables an innovative environment for a sustainable future and affirms an equitable and inclusive future for all.

Meeting for the first time in 2023 in Palm Springs and guided by United States’ APEC 2023 priorities of ‘Creating a Sustainable Future for All’, senior officials are detailing measures for the cross-cutting concepts of building resilience, strengthening environmental sustainability, and advancing inclusive policies.

Emphasis is on advancing APEC’s work on green recovery and green growth, climate finance, clean energy, food security and agricultural biotechnology, food safety and combatting marine debris.

“We are hosting delegates here in Palm Springs to demonstrate APEC’s strength and commitment to economic inclusion and environmental sustainability,” said Mike Pyle, the 2023 Chair of APEC Senior Officials as he welcomed delegates to the meeting on Monday.

“Palm Springs offers a unique backdrop for our first Senior Officials’ Meeting with a strong historic Native American presence, whose businesses and communities continue to influence the region and its economy located in the southwest desert with the horizon of high technology windmills helping to power an increasingly clean energy future,” Pyle added. “Palm Springs also has strong ties to the region’s Latin American economies.”

Pyle added that the nearby Coachella Valley is grappling with environmental issues that include long-term drought, persistent smog and rising temperatures due to climate change which will impact its dominant industry, that of tourism. “Tackling the climate crisis, therefore, is a major priority for the United States.”

“At a time when we are facing global headwinds associated with cost-of-living pressures and supply chain bottlenecks, the need for multilateral cooperation to tackle our shared economic challenges highlights our need to redouble efforts in APEC this year to strengthen sustainable and inclusive growth for all,” Pyle remarked.

Senior officials heard updates from the APEC committee chairs about how trade and investment, structural reform and good regulatory practice have vital roles to play in the recovery of the global and regional economy, helping to address the cost of living, and building a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

“Through our hosting year, the United States will demonstrate its commitment to the Asia-Pacific region by highlighting the importance of multilateral engagement to the region and the support to multilateral bodies such as the WTO, as well as showcase our commitment to APEC,” Pyle concluded.

The First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting will conclude in Palm Springs on Tuesday. The Second Senior Officials Meeting and Related Meetings will take place in Detroit, Michigan from 14 to 26 May.


For further details, please contact:

Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org

APEC News newsalert

APEC Bulletin 21 February 2023


The Pacific Ocean: A Unifying Force for APEC Economies
By Monica Rojas Noack


While APEC seeks to find common scientific bases to understand the ocean that unites members, it must also start to take concrete steps to craft policy and effect changes immediately.

The economic value of our oceans and coasts cannot be overstated. Healthy oceans and coasts are critical for food security, poverty eradication, sustainable and equitable economic growth, as well as preserving traditional culture and promoting trade in APEC.

The 21 APEC economies are linked by the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean in the world, which is endowed with rich resources and from which the economies gain high value, including both economic and non-market benefits.

The Asia-Pacific region is the world's largest producer of fish according to the FAO. By weight, the region accounts for more than 50 percent of the world's catch of marine and river fish and 89 percent of global aquaculture. Eight of the top ten aquaculture producing economies in the world are in the Asia-Pacific, with inland fisheries accounting for 68 percent of total world inland fishery production.

Also watch: Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Boosts Better Livelihoods, Food Security

The fisheries and aquaculture sectors significantly contribute to the food security, livelihoods and income of rural and coastal populations. Around 90 percent of fishers and fish farmers in the region are small scale, highlighting the impact of the sector at the local scale. About 93 percent of people working in aquaculture and fisheries worldwide are located in Asia.

While APEC is aware of the benefits, the forum is likewise aware of the dire predictions of financial and ecological disaster if it does not take heed of the dangers posed by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, or IUU, or the pressing need for remedial action on marine plastic debris in the APEC region among others.

The Oceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) supports APEC’s wider mission to foster sustainability and inclusion objectives. In 2019, we worked together to further two important roadmaps, the first on marine debris and the other on IUU fishing.

Oceans-related issues have raised their profile in the APEC process, and this is a positive development. Members are building upon this synergy and continuing to discover methods or processes that are of common benefit by sharing information globally. We especially recognize the input given by other international organizations that deal with these same issues and non-governmental organizations who also represent stakeholders who have common objectives.

For example, Chile approved the Municipal Ordinance Model, establishing collection and recovery goals and other obligations associated with containers and packaging. The economy is also the first APEC member to implement a certification after forging an agreement to implement and formalize waste management between fishing industry alliance, Alianza Latinoamericana para la Pesca Sustentable (ALPESCAS) and certification agency, Certpro. Notwithstanding work in this area, Chile continues its efforts to strengthen the inclusion of women following the La Serena roadmap and is working toward an intergovernmental negotiating committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution including the marine environment.

In Chinese Taipei, a marine debris recycling coalition has been established and the industrial chain of marine debris recycling has begun to take place. Recycled marine debris product labels were also launched. By 2022, 18 labels have been issued to enterprises for products using marine debris as raw materials. Further, the regulations for identification of fishing gears in gillnet fishery yielded a completion rate of 100 percent for identification of fishing gears with more than 5,200 boats as reported at the OFWG plenary during the First APEC Senior Officials' Meeting and Related Meetings in Palm Springs.

The Philippines made policy changes and launched a number of initiatives that align with the APEC Roadmap on Combatting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. The economy developed the Philippine IUU Fishing Index and Threat (I-FIT) assessment tool and started the implementation of port state measures, catch documentation and traceability. It is also collaborating with domestic enforcement and non-enforcement agencies. To strengthen its public-private engagement, other than capacity building, the Philippines established the Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan—a campaign which adopts an incentive or recognition to encourage participation of local government units and fisherfolks to protect the municipal waters.

The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is a major step forward for ocean sustainability by prohibiting harmful fisheries subsidies. It is a very important milestone to combat IUU fishing that overlaps with the work of the OFWG. We have the same goal to share information and implement to contribute to IUU fishing combat.

We are willing to look deeper at identifying current fisheries subsidies related issues that APEC member economies are facing by holding an in-depth discussion on measures to tackle the matter. The OFWG may explore cross-fora collaboration with other organizations or groups in APEC that are also looking into this agreement to help economies better understand its requirements and also to advance implementation.

The theme, "Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All," highlights the priorities that the United States, APEC 2023 host, has defined for this year which are focused on resilience, sustainability and inclusion. All of them relate in one way or another to the work that OFWG undertakes and are linked to the actions our group has taken to contribute to the implementation of the Aotearoa Plan of Action and the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040.

Undoubtedly, the OFWG can actively contribute to advancing this year’s priorities, but also the vision of APEC in the coming years. We are not only continuing to implement the roadmaps on IUU fishing and marine debris but also starting the work on the new small-scale fisheries and aquaculture roadmap adopted in February 2022. Some members have already started the work related to this area.

For example, Thailand has begun issuing artisanal fishing licenses and improving data collection for this sector. It collaborated with Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center to jointly promote gender awareness raising in the value chain of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the region, developed a standard on sustainable small-scale fisheries to support and promote responsible fishing practices and established a standard on processing of traditional fishery products to promote safe and good quality local fishery processing. Apart from the standards, Thailand has also initiated new marketing channels for fishery products from stall holders available for both online and offline via the fisherman shops of the Department of Fisheries in all its 77 provinces. This is to help reduce the suffering of fisherfolks and aquaculture farmers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have several on-going and new projects to come, all of which address relevant topics related to sustainable growth—such as climate change, waste management, and protection of the marine resources and ecosystems—but also to other relevant topics such as inclusive growth by promoting the participation and empowerment of women, indigenous peoples, artisans and small business, among others. This will require greater commitment, stronger data and evidence and a considered approach to addressing structural barriers to equality, to be reflected in all working groups, including OFWG.

While we seek to find common scientific bases to understand the ocean that unites us, we must also start to take concrete steps to craft policy and effect changes immediately.

With the conclusion of the OFWG meetings this week, I am confident that our experience will carry forward the example for consensus building and effective policy formulation and program implementation.

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Mónica Rojas Noack is the lead shepherd of APEC Oceans and Fisheries Group.

APEC Bulletin 20 February 2023

APEC Bulletin 20 February 2023



Small Business and Food Waste: Not a Small Problem
By Aaron Sydor


Faced with a possible food crisis, economies must work together and take action to food waste … starting at the front line with MSMEs.

Conflict, supply disruption, rising prices, and shortages are all impacting food supplies globally. Just as we are nearing some form of recovery from the pandemic, we are now facing another global challenge in the form of a food crisis – and it’s likely to get worse.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) tells us that this year 349 million people face acute food insecurity – an increase from 287 million people in 2021. It is a tragedy that when the world is “hungrier than ever,” as the WFP calls it, so much food goes to waste. One-third of food production, or 1.3 billion tons per year, goes to waste globally, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. It is inconceivable, then, that we don’t make the most of the food that we have.

This is a regional problem that cannot be solved by individual economies acting on their own. It must be looked at with a wider lens, such as through bodies, like APEC, that promote regional economic cooperation. APEC members acknowledge that all areas of the agri-food value chain are interdependent and that there is a need for a whole-system approach.

Among the forum’s efforts to reduce food waste is the Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030 which aims to establish an open, fair, transparent, productive, sustainable and resilient APEC food system. This corresponds to the UN and other multilateral goals by taking action through the following avenues: digital transformation; productivity and international trade; sustainability; public-private partnerships; and inclusivity, especially in the inclusion of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) along the agri-food value chain.

For more on this topic, download “Enhancing Green MSMEs’ Competitiveness for a Sustainable and Inclusive Asia-Pacific: Food Sector Waste Reduction in Food Supply Chain.”

In my capacity as the Chair of APEC’s Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group, I’d like to stress the importance of the latter: inclusivity and small business. MSMEs account for over 97 percent of all business in APEC economies and employ over half of the workforce. Any strategy for reducing food wastage will have to involve the wholesale participation of the region’s smaller businesses.

This is easier written than done. For one thing, fit-for-purpose data is scarce. No APEC economy has food waste data that is specific to MSMEs. And while all have policies and measures to address the problem of food waste, there are no large-scale direct MSME-food waste reduction targets, policies or plans. Few have tried to reduce MSME food waste in the retail food and the food service industries. Supermarkets, food storage facilities or warehouses in many APEC economies aren’t required to donate excesses.

Most entrepreneurs aren’t even aware of the problem, or underestimate its true cost. Those who do understand have limited options or capital, and are unable to find cost-effective solutions to create value out of food waste, and face problems with logistics and transportation. On top of this, there are few to no regulatory frameworks to guide them. From a technology perspective, a majority of APEC economies utilize modern technologies, including mobile applications, to reduce or manage MSME food waste/surplus food, but these modern technologies are used only by large companies in big cities.

Amid these challenges are an abundance of opportunity to help MSMEs reduce food waste. Training, policies and guidelines can aid them in improving profits by reducing costs and increasing the value added of food. They can reduce their carbon footprint, which enhances consumer demand, and divert waste to new products or bioenergy.

A November study by the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group presents case studies, identifies the best available data on food waste for MSMEs, and identifies several best practices for economies in dealing with food waste through MSME policy.

In one section, the study’s authors analyze a case study of a successful MSME, and identify four key factors contributing to its successful reduction of food waste: 1) creating a network of people - e.g., community surrounding the farm; 2) using innovation and technology to facilitate farming and save time; 3) producing knowledge and providing it through several channels - e.g., a learning and training center, friendly guide books; and 4) considering the environment at every step of the process.

The paper, called “Enhancing Green MSMEs’ Competitiveness for a Sustainable and Inclusive Asia-Pacific: Food Sector Waste Reduction in Food Supply Chain,” is extensive and easily doubles as a handbook for anyone interested in MSME food waste, or the problem of food waste in general. It is a great example of what can be achieved when economies combine knowledge and resources in the pursuit of keeping the region inclusive, prosperous, and fed.

#

Aaron Sydor is the Chair of the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group.


APEC Addresses Barriers for Women in Customs AdministrationsIssued by the APEC Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures
Palm Springs, The United States, 20 February 2023

APEC through its Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures solidifies its commitment to advance gender equality and advance women’s economic empowerment in the region by addressing barriers for women in customs administrations.

“Supporting inclusion in women in customs and trade is a key priority for the Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures,” Kristie McKinney, Chair of the group said in her remarks at Advancing Gender Equality in APEC Customs Administrations workshop in Palm Springs last week.

“We need to take steps to address the gender equality challenge directly,” McKinney added. “This workshop highlighted the areas that we’re lacking and brought together member economies to discuss approaches to women's economic empowerment, explore current efforts to promote gender mainstreaming in customs administrations and identifying best practices and lessons learned for effective gender mainstreaming and inclusion.”

In 2019, APEC Ministers reiterated their commitment in ensuring greater integration and empowerment of women in the Asia Pacific region through the endorsement of the La Serena Roadmap for Women and Inclusive Growth.

The roadmap seeks to encourage actions in areas that contribute to strengthening women’s labour participation, improving women’s leadership in all levels of decision making, supporting women’s education, training and skills development, as well as collecting sex-disaggregated data and improving analysis.

According to a recent survey presented at the workshop, women make up 34 percent of customs administrations senior leaders and around 35 percent of frontline operational roles. However, gender pay gap data ranges from 1 percent in favor of women to 16 percent in favor of men.

The survey also found that there is lack of sex-disaggregated data for many relevant areas for gender mainstreaming such as data for calculating pay gaps as well as pay grades.

Around ten APEC economies presented their measures to support gender equality in their respective organizations. Members also heard views from the World Customs Organization and the Oceania Customs Organizations.

“The goal is to create a foundation for future work in this sector by identifying the systemic barriers faced by women within customs and informing the responses to address these challenges,” explained Shisla Macleod from New Zealand’s Customs Service who oversees this APEC-funded project.

“Measurement will be key to achieving gender equality in APEC customs administrations. At present there is no standard set of metrics across APEC customs administrations to understand the current state of gender mainstreaming and to measure progress,” Macleod added.

“Data gaps, especially the dearth of sex-disaggregated data, need to be addressed to allow effective and well-targeted policy interventions.”

In addition to data collection, strengthening inter-institutional cooperation within APEC through sharing of best practices and exploring joint initiatives are deemed crucial in advancing gender mainstreaming across the board.

“The survey results on gender mainstreaming in customs administration shows that there is still a lot of work to do in the APEC region across customs administrations,” said Carlos Kuriyama, Director of the APEC Policy Support Unit when he addressed the participants at the workshop.

“In most APEC economies, the percentage of women in customs frontlines or in leadership positions is clearly lower than the percentages of men in similar roles, and many APEC economies have not implemented policies to ensure equal opportunities, guide women into leadership roles or provide measures to prevent any type of abuse,” he added.

The APEC Policy Support Unit produces the APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard, which is updated every two years. This dashboard provides a snapshot of the levels of economic and social empowerment that women have achieved in the APEC region.

“Customs administrations across APEC economies play an important role in the economy and in development and, as such, can make an important contribution to APEC’s goals for gender equality and women’s empowerment,” Kuriyama concluded.



For further details, please contact:

Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org

APEC Bulletin

APEC Bulletin 17 February 2023 If you are unable to view the Bulletin or have images disabled, please click here. After COVID: "Adapt and Learn" is In, "Regulate and Forget" is Out Agile governance and cross-border cooperation is a vital pandemic lesson Trust has emerged as the most valuable currency for cooperation in the post-pandemic world – whether it is cooperation between governments and the public, between agencies, or across economies. It is a component of social capital, which is of vital importance with regard to social and economic relations, legal frameworks, and, ultimately, economic development, according to a recent APEC policy brief. As governments across the region work together to emerge stronger from the pandemic, regulations have become an integral part of recovery for strengthening the economy. A transparent, accountable and certain regulatory environment not only sends positive signals to the international business community and invites foreign investment, it also builds trust between stakeholders, policymakers and the public. Acknowledging the fact that regulatory frameworks have been heavily tested during the pandemic, APEC member economies reiterated the importance of adopting Good Regulatory Practices (GRPs), a technical term for processes or methods to promote good governance in the regulatory process – a sort of quality standard. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made us realize that the world is more complex and more connected than in the past,” said Dr Veerathai Santiprabhob, a former governor of the Bank of Thailand, who opened an APEC conference in Chiang Mai late last year focused on regulatory practices in relation to the pandemic experience. “A problem or crisis that originated in one place, one region, could easily and quickly spread out to all parts of the world,” he said. “To overcome future crises, which are likely to become more and more challenging, we need cooperation and determination among all parties to find possible ways forward.” “One of the mechanisms that APEC has encouraged its member economies to enhance cooperation and cross-border trade is the use of GRPs,” said Dr Veerathai. “By implementing GRPs, APEC members are required to review their laws and regulations with a view to facilitating trade by reducing trade barriers created by the differences in legal requirements of each member.” “Having said that, the clear benefits of GRPs are not confined to cross-border trade only, but we can also utilize GRPs to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of the government in addressing problems,” he continued. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of many economies which have implemented GRPs when issuing laws and regulations were able to handle the crisis more effectively and lessen negative impacts on their people.” The pandemic revealed numerous challenges for implementing GRPs by member economies. Governments were under pressure to respond quickly to keep pace with the fast-evolving pandemic, said Dr Manuel Gerardo Flores, Coordinator of the Regulatory Policy Program in Latin America of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), who spoke at the same GRP conference. Regulations are born out of a problem that society needs to tackle, he said, and their formulation should be based on evidence, which is a product of a cycle of study, implementation and testing results. The pandemic left no time for any of it. “There was no evidence,” said Dr. Flores, “The world was full of uncertainty. It was a new virus. It was a new situation.” “So, the name of the game was: there is incomplete evidence, the government needed to act, so let’s shorten all processes,” he explained. To enable timely policies and actions, member economies came up with a variety of regulatory responses, ranging from waivers or exemptions of regulatory requirements, shortening administrative processes, the inclusion of sunset clauses in crisis-related regulations, and adoption of digital technologies in regulation. “Was this the right response?” asked Dr Flores. “Time will tell.” The main crisis is largely over and Dr Flores predicted usual practices would return soon, but he also advocated for the need to adopt more agile regulatory governance for eventual future crises, not just within borders but through international regulatory cooperation. “If anything, the pandemic showed that there are really no borders. All borders are, as the lawyers say, fictional,” he said. “In global crisis, we need global responses.” The two-day conference gathered experts, business representatives and policymakers from all over the APEC region, leading to recommendations and conclusions that benefitted from a multitude of perspectives. There was general consensus that GRP and principles such as transparency, public consultation, and stakeholder engagement that have been in place for some time should return or remain relevant despite changing operating environments. At the same time, however, gaps in existing GRPs need to be addressed as economies emerge from the crisis. Several critical elements need to be incorporated into good regulatory practices. Recommendations for APEC members which emerged from the conference can be summarized as follows: A review and evaluation of COVID-19 responses Policies and measures in force should be reviewed and updated in accordance with the evolution of the pandemic. There is also a need to conduct an impact assessment of legacy regulations from COVID-19, as well as evaluate their effectiveness to inform future decisions. Adapting traditional tools to better accommodate unprecedented circumstances Traditional management tools such as regulatory impact assessments, stakeholder engagement, and ex-post evaluations are proven applications in fast-changing environments. However, they were underutilized during the past crisis. They also need to be tweaked in terms of their flexibility and adaptability, which calls for a need to shift towards more agile and forward-looking approaches. Embedding international regulatory cooperation into domestic frameworks There is a spectrum of international regulatory options that economies can tailor to specific domestic situations, ranging from the unilateral adoption of good regulatory practices or international standards to various cooperative efforts that provide for the development of common regulatory positions and instruments. Enabling greater experimentation through regulatory sandboxes To harness the benefits of innovation and technology while upholding protection for people, many economies have adopted the concept of a regulatory sandbox which allows innovators to conduct live experiments in a controlled environment under a regulator’s supervision. Promoting the use of digital technologies in regulatory affairs The COVID crisis has accelerated digital transformation across the public sector. Governments should capitalize on this trend to promote the use of digital technologies. Several cases from APEC economies have demonstrated how these can be used to improve regulatory processes—platforms that gather inputs from businesses to improve regulations, for example, and digital applications and online platforms for public service delivery. APEC has a long history of advocating ongoing dialogue on good regulatory practice and developing resources to facilitate international regulatory cooperation to tackle transboundary issues. These discussions will continue in 2023 when the United States, as host of APEC, will steer conversations towards policies ensuring transparency and ethics in the process of policymaking. In fact, the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance will further the forum’s GRP work in Palm Springs, this week, outlining specific policies, institutional arrangements, processes, technologies and tools that will advance the implementation in the APEC region. The forum is an ideal platform in keeping regulations and regulators effective, nimble and always relevant whatever crisis the region may face. Download the 15th APEC Good Regulatory Practice Conference's Graphic Notes here.

APEC Creates a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All as Officials Meet in Palm Springs

Issued by the APEC Secretariat

Palm Springs, The United States, 15 February 2023

APEC is driving forward its 2023 agenda to create a resilient and sustainable future as officials from the 21 member economies arrive in Palm Springs, California starting Tuesday until 28 February. 

The United States is hosting APEC this year with a focus on enabling a more interconnected, innovative and inclusive future for all. More than 100 meetings and workshops are scheduled to deepen engagement between member economies and advance this year’s agenda to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth in the region.  

“APEC 2023 presents a unique opportunity to create a strong platform for governments in the Asia-Pacific region to engage key stakeholders across the 21 economies that comprise APEC,” said Matt Murray, US Senior Official for APEC.  

“Public-private collaboration is critical to deepen and expand our economic ties with the fastest-growing region in the world, including in the areas of trade and investment, digitalization and innovation, sustainability and inclusive growth.”  

The current series of meetings begins with discussions on mobility. Under the purview of the APEC Business Mobility Group, members will continue their work on safe passage, ensuring a smooth flow of movement across borders for businesspeople. Members are also reviewing technical cooperation regarding the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) scheme. The scheme went digital in 2021 and is currently undergoing regular updates to affirm interoperability and easy access, both for virtual card holders as well as participating member economies. This focus to adopt new technologies and emerging technologies, as well as improve digital connectivity aligns directly with the Aotearoa Plan of Action.

The Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies are also convening in Palm Springs, sharing their latest experiences, case studies, investigative techniques, tools and effective practices to help build more efficient cross-border cooperation and to enhance the capacity of economies as they fight against corruption, bribery, money laundering, and illicit trade as they identify and return the proceeds of these crimes.  

Following the progress of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, APEC’s Ocean and Fisheries Working Group is identifying challenges related to fisheries subsidies faced by member economies. The group also deliberates on implementing measures to support small-scale fisheries and aquaculture, given the importance of this sector for the social and economic development of APEC economies.  

“We have started APEC 2023 with great momentum, and it is important to maintain this progress as we tackle a set of issues this year that are at the heart of people’s concerns,” said Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, APEC Secretariat Executive Director.  

“We need to build on the lessons of the pandemic; we need more predictability, we need to be more effective in facilitating the movement of goods and services, we need to enhance global and regional cooperation and we need more innovation, not just in the sense of developing new products and services but flexibility and adaptability that gets things moving.”  

The First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and related meetings will culminate on 27 February when senior officials will further discuss how to achieve a more interconnected, innovative and inclusive future.  

The United States will host a virtual news conference at the conclusion of this meeting on Tuesday, 28 February from 13:00 – 15:00 (Pacific Standard Time) or 05:00 (Singapore).  

The virtual news conference will feature the APEC 2023 Senior Officials’ Meeting Chair Mike Pyle, US Senior Official for APEC Matt Murray and APEC Secretariat Executive Director Dr Rebecca Sta Maria  

Media coverage and participation from all economies are warmly welcomed. Media can register through this link.
 

For further details, please contact:

Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at mb@apec.org
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at mc@apec.org