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APEC Trade Ministers met in Boracay, Philippines on May 23-24, 2015. The meeting concluded with the statement adoption on expanding trade and spurring economic activity towards strong, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The statement describes joint actions to be taken forward by APEC members in the following priority areas:
- Supporting the Multilateral Trading System
- Enhancing the Regional Economic Integration Agenda
- Fostering SMEs’ Participation in Regional and Global Markets
- Investing in Human Capital Development
- Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities
- Strengthening Economic and Technical Cooperation
Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Stanislav Voskresensky participated in the meeting. In his statement Mr. Voskresensky emphasized the importance of Roadmap for APEC’s Contribution to the Realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), adopted at the APEC Beijing summit in 2014. He noted that Russia is interested “in the trade rules formed in process of the regional economic integration to be corresponding with the WTO and Eurasian Economic Union rules to streamline Russian companies` entry into the Asia-Pacific markets”. Stanislav Voskresensky has also informed about Russia` implementation of commitment on reducing applied tariff rates to 5 per cent or less on 54 environmental goods by the end of 2015, which was adopted in Vladivostok in 2012. “Russia is one of the leading economies in implementing Vladivostok commitments. We have reduced tariff rates on 53 goods from the list and will reduce the tariff rate on the last one by the end of 2015” – he said.
2015 Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Statement
Annex. Boracay Action Agenda to Globalize MSMEs
Trade Ministers also adopted a standalone statement on supporting the multilateral trading system.
Press-release at the official APEC web-site