PECC STATEMENT MR EDUARDO PEDROSA, SECRETARY GENERAL, PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION COUNCI APEC MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRADE (MRT) MEETING

The top five issues that they selected as priorities for APEC were: Strengthening supply chain resilience; Structural reforms, good regulatory practices, standards alignment, and anti-corruption efforts; Ameliorating geopolitical and trade conflicts in the region; Updating the region’s ambitions on climate and clean energy; and Support for the multilateral trading system and the WTO. [...] This underscores the need to make progress on the mandate given at MC13 to not only make trade-rules relevant to the modern economy but also lays the foundation for an efficient system to request consultation among WTO members on the application of those rules. [...] The entry into force of agreements such as the RCEP, CPTPP and the Pacific Alliance, as well as sector-specific agreements like DEPA provide an opportunity to consider the evolving trade architecture and the role of APEC. [...] The rationale for choosing these issues is the rapid changes in our economies, the challenges that arise from them and the role of trade policy in addressing them. [...] These are the digitalization of services trade, and the role of services in, and the impact on services of, the application of artificial intelligence technologies.