The APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) Chair has called on member economies to step up cooperation to support the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the upcoming 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12), which will be held from November 30 to December 3 this year.
The call comes ahead of the Committee's third meeting of the year, which will be held from August 24-26, where trade and investment officials will meet as part of the current APEC meeting group. They will brief senior APEC officials on initiatives that focus on four key areas, including support for the multilateral trading system, deepening regional economic integration, strengthening trade facilitation and connectivity, and inclusion.
“Before our meeting, I ask the Committee members to support the renewal of the current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference, and that economies that are in a position to make the moratorium permanent should do so,” said Krasna Bobenrieth of Chile.
Bobenrieth also called for members' support for the WTO's rule-making role by participating in several ongoing WTO joint statement initiatives on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; electronic commerce; national regulation of services and facilitation of investments for development.
“Women's economic empowerment is an important issue in APEC and I call on members to join the WTO Joint Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment"He added.
In 2019, APEC Ministers endorsed the La Serena Roadmap for Women and Inclusive Growth to foster initiatives across all APEC work streams to promote gender equality and women's economic empowerment.
“Our willingness to support, participate in and implement WTO agreements and initiatives directly impacts our ability to meet APEC’s objective of a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable trade and investment environment,” he concluded.
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