Rebuilding APEC consensus

Reviving the regional forum's role as a platform for economic integration is mandatory to deepen international cooperation

A prominent issue of discussion at the Oct 1-8 APEC economic leaders' week and related meetings in Bali, Indonesia, is likely to be the development prospect of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in a fast changing region.

With global economic growth still floundering and the Chinese economy slowing down, countries in the Asia-Pacific region are looking toward APEC to play its role as the engine of regional and global economic growth. China, too, expects the APEC meetings in Bali to come up with some concrete and positive suggestions, not least because it will host the APEC informal economic leaders' week next year.

The Bali meetings are also important for China because it, in some ways, would reveal the result of the United States' aggressive promotion of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations among APEC member economies since it began its strategic rebalancing toward the Asia-Pacific.

According to Indonesian officials, the Bali meetings, under the theme of "Resilient Asia-Pacific, Engine of Global Growth", will mainly focus on achieving the Bogor Goals, especially sustainable growth with equity and better connectivity. The Bali agenda shows the importance APEC attaches to the Bogor Goals of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, which were agreed to by APEC leaders in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994. The recommitment to the Bogor Goals indicates Indonesia hopes to pull APEC cooperation back on the track to build consensus among the member economies.

With APEC membership expanding over the past 20 years, the gap in the economic development levels among its members has been widening. Besides, economic fluctuations caused by the global financial crisis, climate change, environmental damage and other factors have been thwarting regional sustainable development. As a result, economic growth has become a major concern in recent years.

The promotion of connectivity is a new issue. Since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations adopted the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity in 2010, connectivity has become a popular factor in regional cooperation. By introducing regional connectivity to APEC, Indonesia and other developing countries are trying to achieve seamless regional economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.

The US' Asia-Pacific strategy has become an important factor affecting the development of APEC. Of late, Washington's attempts to promote TPP negotiations within the framework of APEC has, to a large extent, affected the development direction of APEC.