Malaysia chairs the first ever fully virtual APEC senior officials' meeting

Malaysia has successfully chaired the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Virtual Extraordinary Senior Officials' Meeting (VESOM) on COVID-19, in a four-hour meeting which began 7 pm Malaysian time yesterday.

The VESOM brought together 21 APEC Economies from eight different time zones, into a single virtual platform.

APEC 2020 National Secretariat in a statement today said the participation includes all APEC Economies, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) as well as selected observers from international and regional organisations.

"VESOM focused on operationalising the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) Statement on COVID-19, issued earlier this month. Senior Officials also heard from ABAC, as the Council offered its insights regarding the private sector's role in mitigating the impact of the pandemic and hastening regional economic recovery," it said.

The VESOM deliberated on five proposals, encompassing; a possible platform for information exchange on the policy responses by APEC Economies to the COVID-19 crisis; two separate proposals on possible ways to facilitate the flow of essential goods during this time of crisis.

The other proposal is the creation of a sub-fund for APEC-wide cooperation to combat COVID-19 and navigate the region towards a path of economic recovery; and guidance and directions for the APEC bodies (e.g., the Committees and Working Groups) to continue their future work during this uncertain time.

The secretariat said out of these proposals, three originated from Malaysia with the first one was on the creation of a platform for guided information exchange, called the APEC COVID-19 Latest and Immediate Virtual Exchange or APEC COVID-19 LIVE.

This platform aims to capture the policy interventions, measures, programmes and initiatives adopted by APEC Economies to address the COVID-19 crisis, it said.

"Secondly, Malaysia proposed a draft on APEC Declaration on Facilitating the Movement of Essential Goods. This draft Declaration proposes for all APEC Economies to offer a self-determined list of goods for unilateral tariff concessions.

"The third proposal, in Malaysia's capacity as the Chair of APEC 2020, offered guidanceregarding the way forward for the work being undertaken across the APEC bodies," according to the statement.

The Committees, Working Groups and other sub-fora were reminded that their work mustcontinue, either through virtual, or intersessional, means.

In resuming and continuing their work, these APEC bodies must appreciate that the region is now in a post-crisis recovery mode and this element must be infused into, and reflected in, their deliberations," it said.

In addition to the proposals from Malaysia, there were also two more proposals from other APEC Economies.

China presented a proposal to establish a sub-fund for regional cooperation aimed at combatting COVID-19 and facilitating economic recovery while Singapore and New Zealand jointly proposed an initiative to facilitate the trade of medical goods within APEC.

All five proposals garnered constructive comments from the economies and further discussions on these proposals are expected to be undertaken at the relevant APEC bodies.

"As we efficaciously conclude today's VESOM, preparations are already underway forMalaysia to chair another VESOM and a virtual MRT meeting, in late June 2020," said the secretariat, adding that this is the second time Malaysia is serving as APEC chair after 1998.

More details on APEC 2020 are available at www.myapec2020.my.

-- BERNAMA