On behalf of PECC Co-Chairs, Mr. Eduardo Pedrosa, Secretary-General of PECC attended the 3rd APEC Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting virtually on 16 June 2021. This meeting is pivotal not only because it will set forward APEC’s further work on structural reform for the next 5 years, but also its relative importance to the overall APEC agenda.
PECC’s statement to the ministers identified 5 key action areas that needed to be addressed in APEC’s next phase of work on structural reforms::
- Promotes structural reform to achieve well-functioning, transparent and competitive markets;
- Recognises the importance of structural reform for progressing liberalisation, facilitation and expansion of services and agricultural trade, and in facilitating the freer, more efficient flow of foreign investment;
- Embraces a strong commitment to deeper regulatory cooperation and development of compatible standards to improve connectivity and efficient investment in infrastructure;
- Underlines how structural reform can contribute to the achievement of APEC’s inclusion and sustainability objectives;
- Enhances the region’s capacity to respond to opportunities associated with digital technologies, including by recognising the importance of competition in key sectoral markets such as telecommunications as a prerequisite for capturing the full benefits of the digital technologies.
PECC highlighted the role of structural reform and identified key action areas and recommendations on labor market and social policy issues, sustainability and climate change, digital transformation, institutional arrangements and capacity building. PECC noted that one of the key risks to growth identified in its annual State of the Region survey over years had been the failure to implement structural reforms they therefore placed a high priority on APEC’s ability to facilitate transformative policies that will help to realize the Putrajaya Vision.