KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- South Korea, which will be hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) this year for the first time in 20 years, will focus on innovation, digitalisation and sustainability.
The 2025 APEC Senior Officials' Meeting chair Ambassador Yoon Seongmee said taking stock of the Leaders’ declaration in Lima, Peru, last November, the country would take the discussion across the Pacific to South Korea.
The APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting was last held in Busan in 2005, with one of the main outcomes being the Busan Roadmap to advance member economies' priority of promoting free trade.
"As you can see, two decades ago, APEC was primarily focused on trade, investment liberalisation and regional integration. We are still pursuing these goals, but APEC’s agenda has expanded.
"New challenges, such as climate change and the development of technology, are calling for a collective response from APEC economies," she said in a statement today.
Yoon said it was against this backdrop that the Putrajaya Vision 2040 expanded APEC’s focus beyond traditional trade and investment to include innovation, digitalisation and sustainability, including inclusive growth, as the main drivers of economic expansion.
With this in mind, the host country has selected “Building a Sustainable Tomorrow: Connect, Innovate, Prosper” as the theme and priorities for APEC 2025.
"The theme ‘Building a Sustainable Tomorrow’ reflects the aspiration of realising an open, dynamic, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific region as envisioned in the Putrajaya Vision.
"We all know that such a future should be ‘sustainable’. (Hence) South Korea will endeavour to realise this vision by pursuing three main policy priorities, which are ‘Connect, Innovate, Prosper’," said the chairperson.
Yoon said the priority, Connect, seeks to strengthen physical, institutional, and people-to-people exchanges in the region for an open and resilient Asia-Pacific.
"Institutional connectivity will promote a more efficient and innovative region, and in this respect, efforts will be made next year to develop the new APEC Agenda for Structural Reform.
"In 2025, we will encourage further people-to-people exchanges, especially in the area of science for deeper integration among our citizens," she said.
Meanwhile, the Innovation priority will focus on digital innovation.
"While discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) governance have already begun across various global platforms, such as the United Nations, we believe it is time to discuss AI from an APEC perspective.
"In this vein, South Korea proposes to hold discussions on ways for the APEC economies to cooperate to enable safe and inclusive use of AI for the benefit of our people and the region," she said.
As for Prosper, Yoon said it is effectively responding to global challenges such as energy issues, climate change, health, food security, and changes in demographics.
"Under this priority, South Korea will propose a discussion on the declining birthrate and ageing population. For some economies, this is already a pressing issue, while for some it will be an issue that they will confront in the future.
"Nonetheless, South Korea believes it is time to start discussions on this trend, especially since it impacts the labour force, social divide, and ultimately, sustainable economic growth," she added.
-- BERNAMA
