Growth in all sectors needed

CONTINUED growth in trade alone will not drive growth across Apec economies unless all segments of the economies and societies benefit fully from increased trade and globalisation, a specialist says.
Allan Wagner, the chairman of the Apec Vision Group (AVG), told the organisation’s multi-stakeholder dialogue on Apec towards 2020 and beyond that progress after 2020 would depend on embracing connectivity among the economies.
Wagner said some “unfinished business” needed to be done before the Bogor goals expired in 2020.
In 1994, the Apec leaders committed to achieving the Bogor goals of free and open trade investment by 2020 by reducing trade barriers in the region and promoting free flow of goods, services and capital among Apec economies.
Wagner said Apec Post 2020 would depend on addressing and identifying the future drivers of growth in the Asia-Pacific region looking more deeply into connectivity by addressing and embracing the digital economy or “some say the digital revolution.”
Co-chair of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) ambassador Su Ge saidthat as economies created dialogue on Apec Post 2020, trust was a key component.
“The preamble of the Apec charter that was taken in our Vancouver statement in 1986 says that the realisation of the full potential of the Pacific region depends on enhanced economic cooperation based on free and economic exchange and in the spirit of partnership, fairness and mutual respect while we respect the differences among us that reflect all our unique histories,” Ge said.