Left to right: Mr Eduardo Pedrosa, PECC Secretary General, PECC co-chairs, Dr Charles E. Morrison and Mr Jusuf Wanandi, and
SOTR coordinator Mr Yuen Pau Woo at the media release of the State of the Region 2009-2010 report

 

11 November 2009 (Singapore) - APEC leaders meeting in Singapore later this week have been sent a clear message from Asia Pacific opinion-leaders: It is too soon to exit from the expansionary policies that were put in place over the last year in response to the global economic crisis. “Continued action on the economic crisis” was at the top of a list of suggested priorities for APEC, followed by “regulation of the financial sector”, “restarting the Doha process”, “climate change and the Copenhagen Deal”, and “reducing the cost of doing business”.

 

“There has been a marked rise in optimism about the economic outlook, but opinion-leaders believe it is too soon for governments to withdraw the stimulus measures of the past year,” said Yuen Pau Woo, coordinator of the report and President of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

 

Looking beyond the crisis, opinion-leaders identified a number of key policies for sustainable growth in the Asia Pacific region. These included, in order of importance: 1) strengthening financial regulations around the globe; 2) rebalancing the Chinese and US economies; and 3) increasing final goods trade among Asian economies. According to respondents, the growth engines of the next five years are "expenditures on social priorities", "liberalization of the services sector", and "measures to promote a green economy".

 

The survey of nearly 400 opinion-leaders from business, government, think tanks, and civil society was conducted by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) in October, and is part of PECC's annual State of the Region report. Read more (press release)...