Apec economic leaders agree to increase intra-region trade

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders' Summit here concluded today with leaders agreeing on seven strategic points, including to increase intra-Apec or intra-regional trade through trade facilitation, capacity building and the functioning of a multilateral trade system.

In this regard, the Apec economic leaders agreed on a declaration which supports the multilateral trading system. They also agreed to ensure the success of the upcoming Ninth World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Bali in December.

The outcome of the Apec summit, themed "Resilient Asia-Pacific, Engine of Global Growth", was annouced by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at a press conference here on Tuesday.

The leaders also agreed to redouble efforts to attain the Bogor Goals in 2020, to accelerate Apec's physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity which could help reduce production and transportation costs and create more job opportunities.

They reaffirmed their commitment to achieving a strong, balanced, sustainable and inclusive global growth by, among others, enhancing the participation of Small, Medium and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMMEs), and youth and women entrepreneurs.

The leaders also agreed to cooperate on enhancing regional food, energy and water security, an effort which is aimed at responding to the challenges of population growth and the adverse impacts of climate change.

They also agreed to ensure Apec's synergy and complementarity with other multilateral and regional processes, such as the East Asia Summit and G20, and agreed that close collaboration with the business sector through ABAC (the Apec Business Advisory Council) is essential to achieve free and open trade and investment.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak said the Apec summit generally succeeded in enhancing Apec member states' commitment to trade and investment and to efforts to achieve Apec's objectives, in particular the Bogor Goals.

"The commitment to liberalisation in terms of trade, tariff reduction, enhancing ease of doing business, commitment in terms of connectivity and the like, will create a situation towards increased trade and investment in the entire Apec region," he said.

Najib was speaking to Malaysian journalists after ending his three-day visit here to attend the Apec Summit and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Leaders' meeting.

The Prime Minister and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor later left on a special flight to Brunei to attend the Asean Summit and East Asia Summit (EAS).