PUTRAJAYA: Gender parity and ocean related issues are expected to take centre stage at the on-going Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (Apec) First Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1).
Apec Senior Officials' Meeting Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation chairman Mark Talbot said both issues were aligned to the three priority areas of this year's summit theme “Optimising Human Potential Towards a Future of Shared Prosperity.”
Improving the narrative of trade and investment; inclusive economic participation through digital economy and technology; as well as driving innovative sustainability are the three priority areas set for APEC 2020 hosted by Malaysia.
Continuing on the La Serena Roadmap on Women and Inclusive Growth (2019-2030) adopted during the previous summit in Chile last year, Tablot said Apec 2020 would look into how to ‘mainstream’ and coordinate work programmes among the 21 member economies to achieve gender parity.
“If we could achieve gender parity in our economies, we will be able to see an increase in global gross domestic product of between 11 and 26 per cent according to (the) Mckinsey (Global Report Institute).
“This is a huge economic opportunity as well as being the morally right thing to do,” Tablot said in a media briefing by Apec Committee Chairs on the summit’s priority areas for 2020 here today.
Present at the briefing were Apec Trade and Investment Committee chairman Krasna Bobenrieth and Apec Economic Committee chairman Dr James Ding.
During the previous summit in Chile, Talbot said Apec had identified five key action areas for greater women participation in the economy which included access to capital, increasing labour force involvement; boosting education and training as well as increasing women leadership across all member economies.
Apec Economic Committee chairman Dr James Ding said this year the committee laid out a framework to identify the challenges faced by women in their respective economies.
"We (Apec Eonomic Committee) will contribute to a deeper understanding of how structural reform enables women to participate fully and equally in the economy, and existing structural policies in Apec economies.
"We will also contribute to a greater understanding of the kinds of economic and social policies and programmes that enhance economic opportunities for women," Ding said.
The second big issue highlighted by Talbot in the briefing was the commitment by Apec member economies to address matters on overfishing and plastic pollution reduction in global oceans.
Apec, he said, carried out a substantial work on ocean-related issues when the summit was under the Chilean leadership.
“If we keep on the path that we are going with (our) oceans and would carry on overfishing, carry on tipping waste and plastics into the ocean, they will actually be more plastic than fish in our oceans. And that is (gravely) astounding.”
The summit, he said, was the right platform where member economies could come together and exchange information as well as formulate policies in order to effectively tackle issues related to the ocean.
“We can build the capacity of all of our governments in order to respond. And we can also work closely with the private sector to make sure that businesses are playing their part as well,” he said.
Tablot said Apec 2020 would also address issues related to the circular economy.
“We want to start talking in Apec about how we transition to renewable energy, how we make sure that when we are using resources and that we are actually returning those resources into the economic system. This is to ensure that they are not lost, and we are not creating extra waste.”
The different working groups within Apec namely energy, agriculture and scientists, said Tablot, would begin to talk on the challenge of the circular economy.
“And we are going to look to that and make sure that it's being talked about in the senior levels at Apec as well.”
Malaysia is expected to host about 16,000 delegates throughout Apec 2020, which runs until the year's end. It is the second time Malaysia has hosted the forum in 22 years. SOM1, which began earlier this month kicked off a series of events in five cities nationwide.
It will culminate in the final event involving all 21 leaders from its member economies in November, which will be a platform for them to deliver a consensus declaration on critical issues and launch the new Post-2020 Vision of Apec.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad holds the distinction of being the first world leader who has hosted Apec twice.
Meanwhile, another focus area which would be tackled by senior officials at the ongoing meetings is to implement Apec's Collaborative Framework for Online Dispute Resolution of Cross-Border Business-to-Business Disputes, which was endorsed in August last year.
"In our policy discussions, we have identified that in Apec regions, over 97 per cent of the enterprises are MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and traditional means of dispute resolution in cross-border trade is not really reputable because of the cause and the time involved," said Ding, adding that online solutions could help these enterprises grow.
Apec Trade and Investment Committee chairman Krasna Bobenrieth said delegates in the ongoing SOM1 were focused on shared prosperity initiatives and inclusive approaches.
She said the committee was maintaining the push for sustainability, fossil fuel reform and reducing tariffs on environmental goods.
"We are working in areas that align with the priorities set by Malaysia in sustainable growth. We're working on the implementation to reduce tariff lines of 54 products to 5 per cent. Almost all Apec economies have fulfilled this commitment. A few are still working on it.
"We're also working for the final push for environmental services, smart cities, fossil fuel subsidies and to finalise the last part of our agenda which is inclusive approaches. That's important for the theme this year for Malaysia, (which involves) shared prosperity," she said. -Additional reporting by Hana Naz Harun