Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Trade Ministers have pledged to accelerate the cross-border flow of vaccines and related products to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The measure was adopted in the final statement of the meeting, held on June 4 and 5, 2021, via videoconference.
This multilateral forum brings together 21 countries, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile and Peru, and represents half of the world's Gross Domestic Product.
According to the document, the Trade Ministers agreed to undertake initiatives in three key areas that APEC will address in response to economic recovery following the impact of the pandemic.
The first area is to use trade as a tool to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic; the joint statement and its annexes highlight the work of the World Customs Organization and emphasize the following:
- "Act now to accelerate the flow of vaccines and related products with vaccines by removing trade restrictions that increase their cost and the products that support them;
- "a set of guidelines for your customs authorities to ensure that vaccines flow through ports and airports as quickly as possible so that they do not lie idle;
- «Removing barriers to transport and logistics services supporting trade in vaccines and vaccine-related products to help combat the pandemic.”
At the same time, APEC Trade Ministers reaffirmed their Commitment to the rules-based multilateral trading systemThey also put emphasis on the need to modernize the World Trade Organization (WTO) and inject momentum into a series of trade negotiations with the aim of concluding them by the end of this year.
The meeting was organised under the New Zealand presidency and the ministers agreed to meet again in November.
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