FULL TEXT: 2015 Apec Economic Leaders’ Declaration in Manila

APEC 2015 Leaders' Declaration Manila

23RD DECLARATION OF APEC LEADERS
“Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World: A Vision for an Asia-Pacific Community”
Manila, Philippines | Nov. 19, 2015

We, the Leaders of APEC, met in Manila under the theme of ‘Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World,’ determined to take action to fully realize the vision laid down by our predecessors of a stable, integrated, and prosperous community in the Asia-Pacific, in which all our people can enjoy the benefits of economic growth and technological progress. Our enduring commitment will underwrite the peace, stability, development, and common prosperity of the Asia-Pacific.

Under the shadow cast by the terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, and against Russian aircraft over the Sinai, and elsewhere, we strongly condemn all acts, methods, and practices of terrorism in all their forms and manifestations. We will not allow terrorism to threaten the fundamental values that underpin our free and open economies. Economic growth, prosperity, and opportunity are among the most powerful tools to address the root causes of terrorism and radicalization. We stress the urgent need for increased international cooperation and solidarity in the fight against terrorism.

We met at a time when global growth is uneven and continues to fall short of expectation. Risks and uncertainties remain in the global economy, including inadequate demand growth, financial volatility, and structural problems weighing on actual and potential growth. While APEC economies have remained resilient, they face challenges in boosting growth prospects.

Weakening external demand growth highlights the importance of promoting domestic demand. The rapidly changing structures and competitiveness of our economies necessitate that we develop new drivers of growth, such as productivity-enhancing structural reform, services and trade in services, investment liberalization and facilitation, infrastructure investment, science, technology and innovation, that lead to more balanced and sustainable outcomes.

We are mindful that despite the unprecedented economic growth that has lifted millions of people out of poverty, it continues to be a reality for millions of others in our region. We call for more intensive efforts for its reduction and eradication. We also acknowledge that inequality acts as a brake on economic growth and that reducing it is essential to spurring development and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific.

We recognize the significance of enabling the full participation of all sectors and segments of our society, especially women, youth, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, low-income groups, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to achieving inclusive growth. We underscore the importance of empowering them with the ability to contribute to and benefit from future growth.

We remain united and steadfast in supporting an open, predictable, rules-based, and transparent environment for trade and investment that enables meaningful access to economic opportunities. This provides the best means to deliver sustained and inclusive growth, quality job creation, and financial market stability. We reaffirm the commitment to jointly build an open economy in the Asia-Pacific that is based on innovative development, interconnected growth, and shared interests.

We will not allow terrorism to threaten the fundamental values that underpin our free and open economies. Economic growth, prosperity, and opportunity are among the most powerful tools to address the root causes of terrorism and radicalization. We stress the urgent need for increased international cooperation and solidarity in the fight against terrorism.

We reaffirm the value, centrality, and primacy of the multilateral trading system under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO). We are committed to strengthening the rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, open, and inclusive multilateral trading system. To further reinforce our commitment on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the WTO, we have decided to issue a separate statement supporting the multilateral trading system and the 10th Ministerial Conference of the WTO.

We reaffirm previous commitments on monetary and exchange rate policies. We will refrain from competitive devaluation and resist all forms of protectionism.

We reiterate our commitment to achieve the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment by 2020 and to the eventual realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). We appreciate the work by our officials to ensure that regional trade agreements complement and strengthen the multilateral trading system. We welcome the progress made by many APEC members in completing their respective processes to submit the instruments of acceptance to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, which will reduce the cost of trading across borders.

While achieving ongoing economic transformation will not be easy, we are confident that we will continue to drive regional and global economic prosperity through quality economic growth.

To this end, we collectively commit:

Building Inclusive Economies

1. To support comprehensive and ambitious structural reforms; achieve positive economic, social, and environmental outcomes; and promote good governance.

We recognize that corruption impedes economic sustainability and development and agree to combat the harmful effects of the illegal economy and to promote cultures of integrity across borders, markets, and supply chains.

2. To deepen our financial markets and mitigate risks.

Fostering Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’ Participation in Regional and Global Markets

3. To foster an enabling trading environment that is responsive to new ways in which goods and services are produced and delivered and that promotes inclusiveness, especially for MSMEs.

We need to develop policies that take full advantage of global value chains (GVC) and encourage greater participation and added value. We will promote competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation through effective and comprehensive measures, including balanced intellectual property (IP) systems and capacity-building.

Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities

4. To build sustainable and disaster-resilient economies.

We welcome and adopt the APEC Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Framework to facilitate collective work in building adaptive and disaster-resilient economies supporting inclusive and sustainable development in the face of the “new normal.”

5. To make urbanization work for growth.

We remain committed to a new type of urbanization featuring green, energy-efficient, low-carbon, and people-oriented development.

Investing in Human Capital Development

6. To redouble our efforts to empower our people with the tools to benefit from and participate in economic growth.

In the current environment characterized by the rapid and ubiquitous use of technology, our people, in particular women and youth, need to be equipped not only with technical skills in science, technology, and innovation but must also be adaptable and resilient.


Enhancing the Regional Economic Integration Agenda

7. To achieve our vision for an integrated community in a comprehensive and systematic manner.

8. To develop the services sector as an enabler of economic growth and inclusion.

Strengthening Collaboration

9. To work with stakeholders to address common challenges.

10. To strongly support the work of our Ministers, the APEC Process, and all its Committees and Fora.

Building on our achievements, we commit to engage in an enhanced degree of cooperation within and across our economies with a broad range of stakeholders. We reaffirm the need to have a well-coordinated and whole-of-government approach to rulemaking in our economies.

Through economic integration driven by technological progress, urbanization, trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and improved connectivity, our lives have become increasingly intertwined. It is incumbent upon all of us to work together to ensure our common destiny. In spite of the challenges we face, the future of our region will be bright as we stand true to our pledge to shape the future through Asia-Pacific partnership, with a view to fulfilling our goals of common development, prosperity, and progress, by harnessing our people’s collective abilities in the spirit of mutual respect and trust, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation.

Recognizing that APEC work is a continuing process and that continuity of agenda is key to APEC’s relevance, we thank the Philippines for its leadership this year as it has built on the vision and work of the previous APEC hosts.

We look forward to meeting again in Peru in 2016 and will work closely with the future hosts from 2017 to 2022, namely Viet Nam, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand. We welcome the offer of the Republic of Korea to host APEC in 2025.

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