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The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Ministers Responsible for Trade meet virtually from June 4 to 5, 2021. /Courtesy of APEC
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade group ministers have agreed to unblock the cross-border flow of vaccines and related products.
The APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting was held online on Saturday, which mainly discussed how to cope with COVID-19 and drive the economy to grow in a sustainable way.
The ministers of all 21 APEC members committed that all APEC economies will keep an open trading environment, not take bans or exporting limitations that disobey the World Trade Organization's rules. They also declared that the vaccines, as a global public good, will be allocated safely and effectively.
The ministers also urged to take measures to make trade more convenient.
COVID-19 and the changing world posed a severe challenge to global development, said Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao at the meeting, adding the APEC members should take joint actions to secure peoples' health, build a shared future for mankind in health and sanitation, and facilitate economic recovery and long-term prosperity.
Wang said that the APEC members should maintain a multilateral trading mechanism, and promote the necessary reform of the WTO, particularly to restore the normal functioning of the appellate body and maintain the two-tier dispute settlement mechanism.
He also stressed that APEC members should take pragmatic measures to help industries and businesses to go through this tough time.
Responding to CGTN at the press conference of the meeting, Wang said that China has further opened up its market access, continuously strengthened the institutional construction, optimized the business environment, and actively participated in developing regional free trade.
He added that China is willing to work with other member economies to maintain the stability of the regional industrial and supply chains and propel the economic recovery of the region.
Other ministers said that as an important component of the global economy, Asia Pacific is playing an important role in global economic recovery, and the APEC members should firmly support the multilateral trading system and ensure the supply of medical supplies and vaccines for the COVID-19 to benefit the people in the region.
