ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn has recently praised China's inclusive hosting of APEC this year and its push for open trade, noting that since the first senior officials' meeting in Guangzhou in February, China has organized more than 300 APEC-related events, with extensive consultations and dialogue ensuring an inclusive process.
The remarks came before the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, which is set to kick off in south China's Shenzhen from Nov. 18 to 19, under the theme "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together."
On the agenda, Kao noted that while APEC covers many issues, trade has always remained a standing item, and he stressed the importance of keeping trade open, inclusive and rules-based so that all parties can share economic growth.
"APEC has focused a lot, I mean on many issues, but trade has always been on the agenda. And all of these countries that have been participating in the broad economy, by and large, they are benefiting from open trade. That's why you keep trade open, inclusive and rule-based. It has to be rule-based, then everyone has a chance to be part of the economic growth," said Kao.
Kao noted that economic growth is not everything but is the foundation, and that each economy has its own strengths, with continued growth remaining important. Citing ASEAN as an example, he said the region grew 4.9 percent last year and is expected to grow about 4.7 percent this year, showing that growth in the region continues to move forward despite economic uncertainty.
"So despite all that economic uncertainty, yet the economic growth in our hard work here continues to move ahead. We have the tariffs issue, we have the energy crisis, right? We have technological deception and the ongoing conflict, so all of these are not easy. But yet we have to make sure that despite all of these challenges and disruptions, we must stay focused on the priority of our region and that is prosperity agenda, to make sure that the economy continues to take center stage, to make sure that we continue to trade with one another; to make sure that we continue to invest in each other and of course, to make sure that the energy sector is moving ahead, and of course also the technology. Particularly we talk about AI is moving so rapidly and we cannot be left behind," he said.
ASEAN Secretary-General hails inclusiveness in China's APEC hosting
