APR News

The report emphasized a need for economic growth to be inclusive through a range of policy measures, which address the needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), women and younger generation.
The authors of the report also called for joint work by the APEC member economies governments and businesses to promote open trade and investment and resist protectionism in all of its forms.
Significant steps need to be taken to accelerate the momentum for ambitious and comprehensive economic integration in the Asia-Pacific, notable through the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

To help small business development in the region, ASEAN, the Philippines Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided training to a group of 30 business support organizations on the use of the online ASEAN SME Academy on September 27, 2016.
Launched in May 2016, the Academy is a self-paced learning tool for micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) entrepreneurs. It offers courses and resources for businesses that can be accessed through computers, smart phones or tablets from anywhere in the world.

On September 26, 2016 a Memorandum of Understanding between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary on cooperation in the field of the Agroindustrial Complex was signed by the Member of the Board - Minister in charge of Industry and Agriculture, Sergey Sidorskiy, and Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas, in Budapest (Hungary).

On September 19-21, 2016 in Bishkek experts of the Eurasian Economic Commission under the supervision of the Director of the Department of customs infrastructure Vladimir Skiba discussed with the State Customs Service of the Kyrgyz Republic performance of the procedures required within the framework of the country's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union.
According to Vladimir Skiba, the consultation covered issues of customs legislation, including those with regard to the forthcoming adoption of the Customs Code of the EAEU, as well as improvement of the customs infrastructure and information technologies.

The forum was held under the theme “Opportunities and Challenges in Promoting Women's Employment and Entrepreneurship”.
The Xinjiang Women's Federation was the forum`s organizer.
During the gathering female politicians, officials, entrepreneurs and scholars shared their experiences on women`s participating in economic and social development, existing and new problems with promoting women's employment and entrepreneurship as well as the best practices aimed at support to establishment of companies and increasing women`s awareness on entrepreneurship opportunities.

Agriculture officials from APEC member economies and industry representatives are partnering to reduce a costly explosion in food waste in the Asia-Pacific that could jeopardize the future of global food security.
Technical discussions between these groups in Taipei took forward measures for improving food waste assessment and controls in the region of 3 billion people. Focus is on closing troubling gaps at the retail and consumer level that are feeding the problem. The dialogue was held as part of a multi-year, public-private sector project in APEC to reduce food losses across supply chains.

The Eurasian Economic Commission invited the EAEU member states to strengthen the cooperation on the development of renewable energy sources.
In this regard, the Eurasian Economic Commission paid special attention to the Astana initiative and partnership program “Green bridge”, focused on the transition to the green economy at the vast area and in different regions of Europe, Asia and the Pacific ocean. The participants of the program today are the following EAEU member states: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.

The industrial block of the Eurasian Economic Commission held a session of the expert subgroup for development of cooperation in the field of innovation on September 15, 2016. The draft Recommendation of the EEC Board “On the distribution of best practices in terms of creation and operation of industrial and innovative infrastructural objects in the EAEU member states” was discussed.
The meeting was attended by representatives of government agencies, research organizations, institutions, industrial development and innovation institutes of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the Russian Association of clusters and industrial parks.

The Subcommittee on road transport of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) discussed issues of the development of international road communication within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and endorsed studies on this subject on September 15, 2016.
The meeting, chaired by the Deputy Director of the Department of transport and infrastructure of the EEC Sergey Negrey, was attended by representatives of the EEC and a number of authorized departments of the Union member states in the field of transport, ASMAP, IRU, “BelNIIT Transtekhnika”, Rosalkogolregulirovanie.

The experts and participants of the energy industry discussed digital transformation of the energy sector in a sectoral and cross-sectoral dimension in the fields of the Eurasian Economic Commission on September 16, 2016.
The event was attended by representatives of state bodies, energy companies, organizations from other sectors of the economy, including scientific centres and business associations of the Eurasian Economic Union member states.