APEC 2019 – Connecting people, building the future
From 23 February to 08 March, 2019, the First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and around 54 related meetings took place in Santiago, the capital of Chile. The gathering at the foot of the Andes was the first in a year of meetings to be held around this dynamic South American economy, culminating in the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November, to be held also in Santiago.
With the APEC year theme “Connecting people, building the future”, the Senior Officials adopted an economic cooperation agenda for the remainder of the year guided by the priorities set by Chile: Digital Society; Integration 4.0; Women, SMEs and Inclusive Growth; and Sustainable Growth.
Chile’s 2019 agenda prioritized initiatives that helped empower underrepresented sectors by improving their access to the economy through digital breakthroughs and creating opportunities for better jobs, wages and quality of life. At the meetings, member economies showed the firm support for the rules-based trading system, free and open trade and investment as fundamental pillars of APEC development, especially when this year marked the 30th anniversary of the forum.
To put into practice the instruction made by Leaders at APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in 2017 at Da Nang, shaping the multilateral forum’s post-2020 vision continued to be a priority of the First Round of Meetings. At the Third APEC Vision Group Meeting, many specific recommendations was put forward to maintain APEC as the premier economic forum in the Asia-Pacific, a driver of economic growth and integration. In the capacity of the Vice Chair of APEC Vision Group and the economy initiating the discussion about building APEC Vision post 2020, Viet Nam made significant contributions to the meeting, including chairing as well as making important recommendations.
Since it joined the forum in 1994, Chile has been able to strategically place itself in Asia-Pacific, a region which accounted for 66% of Chile’s trade with the world and 59% of foreign investment in Chile. As this is the second time Chile host the APEC year, Chile has a unique opportunity not only to promote free trade and investment, but also to take concrete steps towards a deeper level of regional economic integration while pursuing sustainable and inclusive growth in the region./.
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