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This year the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum will be held in Thailand from November 16-19.
By Fabian Pizarro
Andrés Rebolledo was Minister of Energy between 2016 and 2018, but he was also director of the General Directorate of International Economic Relations of Chile between 2014 and 2016, therefore he is an authorized voice to discuss and review what the issues should be and challenges that Chile has in APEC 2022.
From Chile, Andrés Rebolledo answers questions from Asia Pacific Dailys.
1. What are the issues that Chile should pay more attention to in this covers APEC 2022?
Regarding the issues that Chile should pay more attention to, it seems to me that within the framework of APEC's vision towards 2040, just as the Bogor objectives were very important, what was agreed upon in Malaysia, this vision towards the future, is How does this forum move from purely commercial issues to areas of cooperation on issues that today are central to economic development and country relations, such as digitization, innovation, sustainable growth, taking into account the challenges of change? climate change, giving content to these issues with concrete actions I think should be the focus of attention for Chile at the summit.
2. Chile has been a member of APEC since 1994. In your opinion, what benefits has being part of this Forum brought us as a country?
For Chile, APEC has been a very important forum because in this context it has allowed it to establish close ties with many countries in the Asia Pacific that have later become and translated into bilateral agreements and free trade agreements. That is to say, it has been in some way a space for cooperation, for generating trust, for the possibility of bringing good practices from other countries to different areas of trade policy, and above all the space where the first ties have been built to later sign bilateral trade agreements with practically all APEC member countries.
3. Andrés, in your opinion, with which of the member countries of the Forum should Chile discuss issues that bring mutual benefits?
It seems to me that all the members of APEC are relevant from the perspective of Chile's relations with each one of them, certainly with some it has a much larger volume of trade and reciprocal investments, but all have a projection and participation in the market of Asia Pacific and the consequently possibility of strengthening and cooperating with these ties are important for Chile.
4. Some of the big issues that will be discussed in this version of APEC 2022 are how to achieve zero carbon emissions, guarantee food and energy security. Is Chile working on these issues? Are we too far behind?
Regarding the issues that will be discussed on the agenda of this meeting associated with both the climate challenge and the need for countries to advance in this global challenge, as well as the conjunctural issues associated with the energy and food crisis resulting from the war in Europe, They are essential for Chile. Particularly in our case, because we have made a very substantive energy transformation in recent years, moving from a polluting and uncompetitive energy matrix to one with a growing participation of renewable energies, more competitive as a fundamental factor of even the country's capacity. Therefore, discussing these issues is at the center of the country's interest.
5. Thailand promotes the initiative to develop a Bio-Circular-Green economic model, and as the host country of APEC, it intends that more countries copy this model. What do you think of this initiative that seeks economic and social development with bioeconomy, the circular economy? and the green economy as pillars?
The issues that Thailand has promoted associated with the circular economy are also important for Chile, understanding that this is a national challenge but also understanding the paradigm shift, particularly in the energy sector, that is being implemented in Chile, taking into consideration the fact that Chile has established by law the goal of being a carbon neutral country by the year 2050. All the initiatives that can be shared in the field of cooperation in this sense in APEC are very relevant, surely those who participate in this meeting will support it.
(APD News)
