Mahathir hopes Shared Prosperity Vision will drive Apec 2020 Summit

After 22 years, Malaysia will again host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit next year.

Come 2020, the Bogor Goals, which outlined a commitment between the 21 Apec member economies towards free and open trade and investment, will also expire.

Malaysia will, thus, host a summit that will decide the economic bloc’s next set of goals.

Speaking at the Apec 2020 launch in Cyberjaya this morning, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad hoped that the new goals will incorporate elements of Malaysia’s own Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (SPV2030).

“The Post-2020 vision for Apec, which we will launch next year, will chart the future direction of Apec towards ensuring its continued relevance under a more inclusive approach.

“It will be built on the Bogor Goals as well as value-add and complement the work of Apec over the past 30 years and preserve its status as a premier economic forum for years to come.

“More importantly, Malaysia would like to see the concept of shared prosperity driving the vision and the philosophy cascade to every work that Apec undertakes, moving forward beyond the Bogor Goals,” he said in his speech.

Launched in October, SPV2030 outlines goals and targets aimed at restructuring Malaysia’s low-skill labour-intensive economy to a knowledge-based one which enables fair and equitable wealth distribution.

“To my mind, it is time that member economies consider embracing this philosophy and embed it in the current economic model.

“Improving the overall well-being of our people and enabling every citizen to have a more decent living standard will make Apec sustainable and relevant as a grouping in the long run,” Mahathir added.

The theme of the November 2020 summit is “Optimising Human Potential towards a Future of Shared Prosperity”.

Cohesion affected, but the spirit remains

Asked by the press afterwards if the ongoing global trade tensions were evidence of Apec’s ineffectiveness, the PM admitted that the challenges had slightly rocked cohesion among member economies.

Nevertheless, Mahathir expects the 2020 meeting to be productive.

“Well, over the (past) 30 years, Apec has played an important role, and it is obvious that most countries adopting the Apec resolutions have made good progress towards more free trade and (are) dependent upon trade to grow their economies.

“It is only later that we have a trade war between the US and China. Although that has affected, a little, the cohesiveness of Apec, but the spirit is still there.

“People do want to attend the Apec meeting, and I think the discussion would produce (a) substantial result,” he answered.

Next year will be Malaysia’s second time hosting the Apec summit.

Back in 1998, Mahathir was also the prime minister who launched the summit.

The 21 Apec members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

Altogether, these economies constitute 60 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and almost half of the world's trade. - Mkini