The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum said now is the best time to resume work on regional integration and bring new energy to the long-term perspective.
The APEC Policy Support Unit made a statement in a new policy brief titled “Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: A renewed agenda for the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific”.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have underscored the importance of regional economic integration,” said Denis Hew, director of APEC’s Policy Support Unit.
The expert considered that "APEC policymakers must address emerging trade-related issues and challenges to achieve deeper regional economic integration."
In light of this, APEC Policy Support Unit Senior Analyst Carlos Kuriyama, who is also the author of the report, said it is not enough for governments to take decisive action at the national level when the world is facing a pandemic.
"International collaboration must be part of the solution“He stressed. Moreover, any regional integration scheme, including free trade and/or regional agreements, could help overcome the challenges related to the pandemic,” Kuriyama added.
The report identifies six main challenges that affect trade and are considered critical. Namely:
- Disruption in access to essential goods
- Disruption in trade in services
- Difficulties in supply chain logistics
- Digital transformation
- Transparency
- Regulatory bottlenecks affecting trade in essential goods.
While some of these disruptions were much more severe during the early stages of the pandemic, challenges remain. For example, some export restrictions on essential goods are still in place, trade in services has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, and cross-border data restrictions have increased globally.
“There is therefore a need to resolve bottlenecks in supply chain logistics. Delays in vessel arrivals have increased by almost 50% since the pandemic began and freight rates for 40-foot-long containers have soared by more than 600%,” Kuriyama said.
APEC could take these challenges into account and incorporate new issues related to trade in goods, services, trade facilitation and digital issues, among others, into the work programme of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, the document said.
Thus, APEC member economies could come together and collectively commit not to implement export restrictions on essential goods and ensure their availability for commercial purchase, Kuriyama suggested. On the other hand, they could guarantee the services to ensure that airports, ports, customs and border facilities remain operational during pandemics.
“There is also a need for APEC economies to facilitate the movement of essential workers, including air crews and seafarers across borders,” the expert said. “Border cooperation and technical assistance should be strengthened by adapting modern technologies and paperless procedures,” he added in relation to the logistics.
According to the digitalization, the author pointed out that it is necessary modern trading rules for data privacy, data localization, cross-border data flows and e-commerce, as well as for consumer protection, electronic payments and electronic signatures, among others, which help promote the digital economy.
“While the pandemic has accelerated structural changes in the economy, APEC is well positioned to influence the global trade agenda,” Kuriyama said. The Asia Pacific region is fostering the resilience of economies by undertaking collective initiatives, including capacity-building activities in areas of growing interest, he said.
“We must build on this momentum to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable future,” he concluded.
APEC is made up of 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taipei, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. (Policy Brief “Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: A renewed agenda for the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific”")
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