SINGAPORE: Singapore has offered to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in 2030, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Saturday (Nov 16).
APEC continues to be an important platform for economic cooperation and the 21 member economies collectively make up nearly half of global trade, Mr Wong said at the close of this year’s summit in Lima, Peru.
"Singapore regards this as an important grouping, not just for trade and investment, because APEC also serves as an incubator for ideas around other areas of cooperation, like supply chains, digital economy and sustainability," he told reporters.
Singapore will do its part to support APEC in different ways, including the hosting of APEC Summits, Mr Wong said.
"We have offered to host the APEC Summit in 2030," he added.
The last time Singapore hosted an APEC Summit was in 2009.
When asked about his takeaway from the Summit this year, Mr Wong noted that there was "widespread recognition" that the world is at an inflexion point.
"There are powerful forces that are shaping the trajectory of events in the coming years," he told reporters.
Given growing geopolitical rivalry and tensions, Mr Wong noted that more things are being viewed through a security lens, rather than through win-win economic cooperation.
He added that there is a sense that citizens and people across many economies of APEC feel that free trade has not benefited them, and that not everyone is getting a fair share in the progress of their respective economies.
"And so there is, across the board, a concern that support for globalisation and trade is weakening," he noted.
"Of course, what can we do about this? One response would be to simply put up more barriers, but it is good that the APEC economies across the board reject that response, and feel that the right way to go about dealing with these concerns is to double down on our trade and investment links, make sure that trade works for the benefit of all our peoples, and find ways to make growth more inclusive."
Mr Wong also noted that the leaders of APEC economies recognise "at the broad level" the need for stronger trade linkages.
"But each one will face constraints, domestic circumstances, and may not be able to move at the same pace," he said.
Citing the example of climate change, Mr Wong said: "The starting point to fight global warming and to tackle climate change is to put a price on carbon and phase out subsidies to fossil fuels. But not everyone is able to make that move. Each one will move at their own pace, because there are domestic considerations, political sensitivities and so on."
So what is important is at least there is a broad understanding of the end point, he noted.
"We recognise that not everyone can move in tandem, and so we will try to gather like-minded economies to move first," he said.
Mr Wong added that among the APEC economies, the smaller, more open economies like Singapore, New Zealand and Chile, have often come together to be "pathfinders".
This was done with the P4 (Brunei, Singapore, Chile and New Zealand), which resulted in the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), and then the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, noted Mr Wong.
P4 is a wide-ranging economic agreement signed in 2005 and the CPTPP is a free-trade agreement between 11 countries, including Brunei, Singapore, Chile and New Zealand, which was signed in 2018. The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement was initially signed by Singapore, Chile and New Zealand in 2020 establishing new approaches and collaborations in digital trade issues. South Korea joined in 2024.
Chile, New Zealand and Singapore have come together to form a joint working group around trade in the green economy, he said.
"We hope this will allow us to again serve as a pathfinder to work out what rules, standards are required for exchange and collaboration around low carbon and green solutions, and that would allow more cross-border trade in low carbon activities," he added.
"If we are able to put in place this framework, hopefully this can eventually grow into another international initiative."
Mr Wong was in Peru from Nov 14 to Nov 16 for the APEC Economic Leaders' Summit and will now travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the G20 Summit.
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APEC continues to be an important platform for economic cooperation and the 21 member economies collectively make up nearly half of global trade, Mr Wong said at the close of this year’s summit in Lima, Peru.
"Singapore regards this as an important grouping, not just for trade and investment, because APEC also serves as an incubator for ideas around other areas of cooperation, like supply chains, digital economy and sustainability," he told reporters.
Singapore will do its part to support APEC in different ways, including the hosting of APEC Summits, Mr Wong said.
"We have offered to host the APEC Summit in 2030," he added.
The last time Singapore hosted an APEC Summit was in 2009.
WORLD AT INFLEXION POINT
When asked about his takeaway from the Summit this year, Mr Wong noted that there was "widespread recognition" that the world is at an inflexion point.
"There are powerful forces that are shaping the trajectory of events in the coming years," he told reporters.
Given growing geopolitical rivalry and tensions, Mr Wong noted that more things are being viewed through a security lens, rather than through win-win economic cooperation.
He added that there is a sense that citizens and people across many economies of APEC feel that free trade has not benefited them, and that not everyone is getting a fair share in the progress of their respective economies.
"And so there is, across the board, a concern that support for globalisation and trade is weakening," he noted.
"Of course, what can we do about this? One response would be to simply put up more barriers, but it is good that the APEC economies across the board reject that response, and feel that the right way to go about dealing with these concerns is to double down on our trade and investment links, make sure that trade works for the benefit of all our peoples, and find ways to make growth more inclusive."
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Mr Wong also noted that the leaders of APEC economies recognise "at the broad level" the need for stronger trade linkages.
"But each one will face constraints, domestic circumstances, and may not be able to move at the same pace," he said.
Citing the example of climate change, Mr Wong said: "The starting point to fight global warming and to tackle climate change is to put a price on carbon and phase out subsidies to fossil fuels. But not everyone is able to make that move. Each one will move at their own pace, because there are domestic considerations, political sensitivities and so on."
So what is important is at least there is a broad understanding of the end point, he noted.
"We recognise that not everyone can move in tandem, and so we will try to gather like-minded economies to move first," he said.
Mr Wong added that among the APEC economies, the smaller, more open economies like Singapore, New Zealand and Chile, have often come together to be "pathfinders".
This was done with the P4 (Brunei, Singapore, Chile and New Zealand), which resulted in the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), and then the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, noted Mr Wong.
P4 is a wide-ranging economic agreement signed in 2005 and the CPTPP is a free-trade agreement between 11 countries, including Brunei, Singapore, Chile and New Zealand, which was signed in 2018. The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement was initially signed by Singapore, Chile and New Zealand in 2020 establishing new approaches and collaborations in digital trade issues. South Korea joined in 2024.
Chile, New Zealand and Singapore have come together to form a joint working group around trade in the green economy, he said.
"We hope this will allow us to again serve as a pathfinder to work out what rules, standards are required for exchange and collaboration around low carbon and green solutions, and that would allow more cross-border trade in low carbon activities," he added.
"If we are able to put in place this framework, hopefully this can eventually grow into another international initiative."
Mr Wong was in Peru from Nov 14 to Nov 16 for the APEC Economic Leaders' Summit and will now travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the G20 Summit.
Continue reading...