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South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday called for Asia-Pacific countries' efforts to promote free trade and ensure that economic growth benefits all people.
He made the remarks at a meeting of the 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, known as the Retreat.
"Noting our government is pursuing a 'people-centered economy' that emphasizes the importance of providing quality jobs and income to households, President Moon said the government is focusing on three policy initiatives that seek to increase jobs for youth and women, create economic ecosystems for innovation and ensure a fair economy," the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of Moon's participation in the APEC Economic Leaders' dialogue.
"Also, the president noted the country may be able to provide a good example for APEC discussions on innovative, inclusive and sustainable employment," it said in a press release.
The South Korean president arrived here Friday for the annual APEC summit.
Moon also stressed the need for additional support for marginalized people, including women forced to interrupt their careers due to marriage or childbirth.
He welcomed the APEC Framework on Human Resources Development in the Digital Age, proposed by the Vietnamese host, and promised full support for the new development initiative, Cheong Wa Dae said.
In the Second Retreat that followed a working lunch of the leaders, Moon called for efforts to promote free trade in the Asia-Pacific region.
"While noting APEC has successfully served as a growth engine for the region and the entire world over the past 27 years by working to liberalize trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region, President Moon stressed the need to continue its efforts to completely remove the remaining barriers to trade and investment," Cheong Wa Dae said.
The South Korean leader again stressed the need to support the marginalized population, insisting that the reason countries often resort to protectionist measures was because the benefits of trade do not reach all people.
"President Moon emphasized the need to support people of all social classes and groups while pushing for growth through free trade, and called for additional efforts by the APEC to this end," it said.
Later in the day, the 21 leaders issued a joint declaration at the close of their summit.
"Trade and investment have brought unprecedented prosperity to the Asia-Pacific region, but serious challenges persist. We, therefore, recommit to our common purpose -- to foster a shared future of a peaceful, stable, dynamic, interconnected and prosperous Asia-Pacific community. We reaffirm our support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a framework for inclusive growth," they said.
The leaders included U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They reaffirmed their commitment to free trade and vowed efforts to create the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) covering the entire region.
"We commit to attaining the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. We agree to accelerate efforts to address WTO-inconsistent barriers to trade and investment and take concrete actions towards the achievement of the Bogor Goals by 2020," the joint declaration said. "We reaffirm our commitment to advance in a comprehensive and systematic manner the process toward the eventual realization of an FTAAP to further APEC's regional economic integration agenda."
The next summit will be held in Papua New Guinea.
(YONHAP)
