Apec leaders pledge to boost SME growth

LEADERS at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) in Honolulu, Hawaii, have agreed to address two key trade and investment issues facing the region.
They pledged to help small and medium-sized enterprises grow and plug into global production chains.
The leaders also agreed to promote effective, non-discriminatory and market-driven innovation policies, including by not conditioning government preferences on commercial goods and services on the location of the development or ownership of intellectual property.
Economies agreed to develop by next year a list of environmental goods that contribute to green growth and sustainable development on that economies are resolved to reduce
applied tariff rates to 5% or less by the end of 2015.
Economies will eliminate non-tariff barriers, including local content requirements that distort environmental goods and services trade.
The Apec economies decided to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, setting up a reporting mechanism to track progress, and raised their Apec-wide energy intensity reduction target, to 45% by 2035.
Leaders committed to take specific steps by 2013 to implement good regulatory practices in their economies, including by ensuring internal coordination of regulatory work; assessing regulatory impacts; and conducting public consultation.
Leaders also expressed concerns over the impasse confronting the
Doha development agenda.