KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Senior Officials concluded their series of meetings and programmes this year with the virtual Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM) held yesterday.
According to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti), the CSOM was chaired by Apec 2020 SOM chair Hairil Yahri Yaacob, marking the final meeting of Apec at the officials’ level for the year.
The ministry said the Senior Officials commended the key achievements of Apec, including Malaysia’s central role in providing leadership and ensuring a successful Apec 2020, despite the challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“They noted that, going into the final lap of Apec 2020, Malaysia has done remarkably well in managing the impact of Covid-19 on Apec Meetings and expressed hope for this positive streak to continue until the pinnacle event next week, the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM),” said Miti in a statement today.
The Senior Officials also recognised Malaysia’s able stewardship in delivering a number of joint statements at the Ministerial level, including for Trade, Health Finance, Women, and Food Security.
“They underscored their commitment to continue to work collaboratively with Malaysia, with a view to deliver the remaining three high-level documents for the year, namely the Post-2020 Vision, Apec Ministerial Meeting (AMM) Statement and Leaders’ Declaration.”
The ministry said this year, Apec 2020 progressed their work under the theme, ‘Optimising Human Potential towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity’, which was enabled through the following three priority areas, namely Improving the Narrative of Trade and Investment; Inclusive Economic Participation through Digital Economy and Technology; and Driving Innovative Sustainability.
“The Senior Officials also noted a number of key reports related to the above priority areas, including The Annual Report by the Committee on Trade and Investment to Ministers; Senior Officials’ Report on Economic and Technical Cooperation; and Work Programme for the Apec Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap,” it said.
The Senior Officials also highlighted their enthusiasm in looking forward to the AMM on November 16, 2020, as well as AELM on November 20, 2020 and reaffirmed their support for further enhancement of regional economic engagements.
At the end of the meeting, Hairil expressed his gratitude to all Senior Officials for their undivided support to Malaysia in navigating Apec through this challenging time.
“The transition from physical meetings to a fully virtual format had been a challenging journey for all, what more with eight different time zones,” he said.
However, Hairil remained optimistic that the same camaraderie, friendship and solidarity will be extended to New Zealand as the incoming host of Apec Meetings.
— Bernama
