APEC to push concrete sustainable economic growth in the region

NEW DELHI: A dialogue was held by the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) to push for more actions to achieve solid sustainable economic growth in the APEC region.

An issue released by the SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation stated that the APEC region suffers more than 70% of the global natural disasters and disaster-related losses in the region amounting to US$100 billion annually.

Thailand’s Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Thani Thongphakdi called attention to the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy model as a post-pandemic growth strategy. It is a system that promotes, maintains, and restores ecosystems and reduces waste. This approach is a way of understanding the relationships between the environment, society, and the economy.

The BCG economy model aims to thoroughly address climate change, extreme weather, and natural disasters among others. 

Christophe Bahuet,  Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific at the United Nations Development Programme, at the meeting, highlighted how economies should scale up investments for sustainable systems in the health sector to support immediate response and prevent future health crises. He also pointed out intensive investment to achieve Sustainable Developments Goals by 2030.

The speakers and delegates stressed the need to tackle the economic impacts in the APEC region. They also commented on policy levers to further expand access to sustainable financing and investment to encourage and empower small businesses.