Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi chaired the 8th Meeting of the Committee of the Whole for the ASEAN Economic Community (CoW) in Singapore on 21 January 2018 where the Member States laid out economic priorities for the year and cross-cutting issues.
The ASEAN Secretariat officiated the transfer of office of the 14th Secretary-General of ASEAN at a handover ceremony held in Jakarta on 5 January 2018. Dato Lim Jock Hoi from Brunei Darussalam succeeded outgoing Secretary-General Le Luong Minh and will serve for the period of 2018-2022.
The Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN, H.E. Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, handed over her duties as the Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) to the Permanent Representative of Singapore to ASEAN, H.E. Ambassador Tan Hung Seng, at the ASEAN Secretariat on 8 December 2017.
The 21 APEC member economies will take steps toward enabling more digitally-driven and inclusive trade and growth in 2018, the group’s incoming chair, Papua New Guinea, announced at a key planning meeting in Port Moresby. The focus will be on empowering workers and businesses, in all parts of the region, to thrive in an age of digital disruption.
“Under the theme of “Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities, Embracing the Digital Future,” Papua New Guinea in 2018 will ensure focus on today’s core economic and social challenges,” explained Papua New Guinea Minister for APEC, Justin Tkachenko, in remarks to APEC Senior Officials. “In 2018, we will advance policy discussions on the digital economy through all of APEC’s key work programs.”
“We will also continue to focus on connectivity and facilitate ongoing work on the multi-year program on structural reforms,” added Minister Tkachenko. “Under this theme, Papua New Guinea will advance APEC’s ongoing agenda through our three core policy priorities.”
To this end, APEC’s 2018 priorities that will advance APEC’s ongoing agenda include:
• Improving Connectivity, and Deepening Regional Economic Integration;
• Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Growth; and,
• Strengthening Economic Growth through Structural Reform.
Trade and sectoral officials will next convene in Port Moresby from 24 February 2018 to proceed with implementation work, culminating with the First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting in March to decide the way forward.
Press-release at the APEC official web-site
The anniversary meeting of the Greater Tumen Initiative Tourism Board was held in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, Republic of Korea.
China should improve its investment and market environment, accelerate opening up to the outside world and lower operating costs, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday.
The country should "create a stable, fair, transparent and predictable business environment, and speed up efforts to build an open economy in a bid to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the Chinese economy," Xi said at a meeting of the Central Leading Group on Finance and Economic Affairs.
An important goal of building an open economy is to stimulate improvement of domestic institutions and laws for higher efficiency and greater competitive strength in the global market, said the president.
Foreign investment has played a significant role in China's economic development, promoting reasonable allocation of resources and driving market-oriented reforms, he told the meeting.
China should continue to make good use of foreign investment to advance supply-side structural reforms, upgrade the economy, and catch up with global technology development, Xi said.
He urged faster efforts to lift restrictions on foreign access to and ownership in sectors such as child care, elderly care, architectural design, accounting, auditing, commerce, logistics, e-commerce, general manufacturing and services.
The "negative list" approach on foreign investment management, which has been adopted in the country's pilot free trade zones, should be expanded to the whole nation as soon as possible, he said.
China’s economy continued steady expansion in the first half of this year with GDP up 6.9 percent year on year to about 38.2 trillion yuan ($5.6 trillion), data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on July 17.
The reading is well above the government’s target for the year of 6.5 percent.
In the second quarter, GDP held steady at 6.9 percent year on year, flat from the first quarter.
The Survey of SME Business Conditions is a quarterly survey conducted by the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, targeting approximately 19,000 small and medium enterprises（SMEs）across Japan in cooperation with business management advisors from commerce and industry, chambers of commerce, and researchers from the National Federation of Small Business Associations.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) released the 2017 version of its annual White Paper on International Economy and Trade, which was reported to the Cabinet on June 27, 2017.
In recent years, the global public has been voicing frustration over the trend of globalization against the backdrop of the widening economic gap within countries. In light of this trend, the White Paper provides the results of analyses that free trade is an engine that drives economic growth and that will contribute to filling the economic gaps, thereby reaffirming the importance of free trade.
In light of the report compiled by the Working Group on Administrative Procedures under the Regulatory Reform Promotion Council and the directions issued by the Prime Minister in March 2017, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) compiled basic plans concerning the reduction of burdens on businesses in terms of its administrative procedures.