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PRESIDENT Joko Widodo (Jokowi) urged all Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies to open secure mobility in the region in a bid to expedite economic recovery.
“We should bolster our cooperation and revive together, be strong together and sustained. Hence, I call on APEC to focus on three points. First, we need to soon open secure mobility in the region to accelerate economic recovery,” President Jokowi stated during a speech at the 28th APEC Summit televised from Lombok, East Nusa Tenggara.
Jokowi urged all APEC economies to expedite efforts to achieve the vaccination coverage target in the region while adding that the cooperation should agree on the special routes for vaccinated travelers among APEC economies.
The second focus for APEC is to immediately realize a more resilient global supply chain ecosystem. Disruption to the supply chain and global logistics has had huge economic impacts, according to the president.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught all countries that the global supply chain that relied on one or two countries was highly vulnerable, especially for processing vaccine products, medicine, health equipment, and other important products,” he expounded.
Jokowi explained that we must correct this by building a more equitable global supply chain in the region to mitigate similar risks in the near future. A threefold hike in transport container costs as compared to the pre-pandemic period also hit exporters and importers. We have to look into the core problems to be solved soon.
The third focus, President continued is boosting the transition to sustainable and green economic development viewed as the future global economy and a necessity, according to the head of state.
“Hence, development policies must strike a balance among economic growth, social welfare, and climate change. A balance should be struck in all of these and not through the zero-sum approach among the three goals,” he emphasized.
President Jokowi pointed out that the APEC should facilitate investment and technology transfer in the low-carbon economic sectors. Sustainable and green transition should be integrated into APEC’s working areas.
During the summit, President Jokowi was accompanied by State Secretary Minister Pratikno, Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mahendra Siregar, and Asia-Pacific and Africa Directorate General at the Foreign Affairs Ministry Abdul Kadir Jaelani. [antaranews]
