APR News

At the meeting between Minister of External Affairs of India Srimati Sushma Swaraj and Secretary-General of ASEAN Le Luong Minh held in New Delhi on December 15, 2015 it was announced that India intends to further deepen its strategic partnership with ASEAN and continue supporting ASEAN's integration as the regional grouping.
According to Sushma Swaraj, potential areas for enhanced India – ASEAN collaboration include connectivity, maritime cooperation, cyber security and innovation.
Le Luong Minh emphasized that India and ASEAN should explore innovative ways to mobilise resources including through public-private partnership to fund connectivity projects.
During the meeting Sushma Swaraj and Le Luong Minh also exchanged views on regional and global issues.
During the visit, Le Luong Minh met with business leaders from the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry to discuss ways to further enhance trade and investment between ASEAN and India as well as to deepen private sector engagement.
In 2015 the ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2016-2020) defining priority cooperation areas was adopted.
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Commerce of People's Republic of China on promoting bilateral trade was signed during the visit of the Russian delegation led by the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev to Beijing on December 17, 2015.
The MoU is aimed at expanding Russian-Chinese mutual trade and enhancing trade and economic cooperation, as well as improving the mechanism of development of cooperation in the framework of the Russian-Chinese Commission for preparing regular meetings of heads of government.
The document recognizes a need to raise awareness of Russian and Chinese business about existing opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in trade.
The Memorandum emphasizes the importance of exhibition and fair activities and includes an intention to encourage active participation of companies from both countries in key trade fairs, exhibitions and international conferences held in Russia and China. It also recognizes the need to further promote joint Russian-Chinese EXPO and encourage more active participation in the EXPO of small and medium enterprises.
The Memorandum emphasizes the intention of Russia and China to simplify customs administration procedures and provide mutual recognition of customs control results, to implement the Green Corridor project and to harmonize national standards, norms and rules of technical regulation in order to create favorable conditions to boost bilateral trade.
Other spheres included into the MoU are interregional and cross-border cooperation, interbank cooperation, cross-border e-commerce, trade in agricultural products etc.
The document also emphasizes the parties` intention to strengthen cooperation in implementation of the import substitution programme of the Russian Government and localization of production to develop the indicative documents, including a list of priority goods and projects for identifying new opportunities to increase bilateral trade volumes.
The Memorandum is applicable from the date of its signing.
Press-release at the official web-site of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Commerce of People's Republic of China, the People's Government of Heilongjiang province of People's Republic of China on the issues of preparation and holding of the Russian-Chinese EXPO was signed during the visit of the Russian delegation led by the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev to Beijing on December 17, 2015.
The document defines the procedure of holding the Russian-Chinese EXPO. According the document, the EXPO will be held annually on a rota basis in Russia and China during five days, normally in June-August. The framework programme of the EXPO, including a plan, business programme and terms of participation should be presented no later than six months before the EXPO. The meetings of the EXPO Organizing Committee are planned to be held at least one time per year to monitor the process of preparing to the EXPO.
The Memorandum is applicable from the date of its signing.
Press-release at the official web-site of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

On December 9, 2015 the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Alexey Ulyukaev during the “government hour” at the Federation Council presented the forecast for the social and economic development of Russia in 2016 and for the target period of 2017 and 2018.
According to Alexey Ulyukaev, the lowest point of recession in the Russian economy was passed in the middle of 2015 at the end of the second and the beginning of the third quarters. Starting from July the industrial recession has stopped to deepen. In September-October the GDP seasonally adjusted started to grow: 0.2 per cent in September, 0.1 per cent in October and about 0.1 per cent in November. The development of agricultural and mining industry and improvement in the sphere of investments positively affected the situation.
It is expected that the growth rate of the Russian economy will reach 0.7 per cent at the turn of the first and second quarters of 2016.
The situation with the real income of the population is expected to improve due to the deceleration of inflation. According to the basic variant of the forecast, in 2016 consumer prices growth will slow down to 6.4 per cent, market demand will increase by 0.2 per cent to the level of 2015. Production inventory is expected to grow because of the reduction of loan rates. The contribution of these two factors – market demand and inventory restoration – will give 1 per cent of GDP in 2016. “We expect the total growth of manufacturing output during 4 years to be 4% in the context of outrunning growth of 5.5% in processing industry,” – said Alexey Ulyukaev.
Press-release at the official web-site of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

During the meeting of the APEC Senior Officials in Lima Ambassador of Peru Luis Quesada announced the 2016 Peruvian APEC presidency priorities. The priorities include:
1) advancing regional economic integration and quality growth;
2) enhancing the regional food market;
3) towards the modernization of micro, small and medium-size enterprises in the Asia-Pacific;
4) developing human capital.
The presidency theme will be “Quality Growth and Human Development”.

The Peruvian APEC presidency priorities to a large extent iterate the priorities of the previous Philippine presidency focused on enhancing regional economic integration, fostering SMEs' participation in the regional and global economy and investing in human capital development. Such continuity of the agenda is essential for the APEC objectives implementation. At the meeting Philippine Undersecretary Laura Del Rosario emphasized that the Philippines looks forward to working closely with Peru on implementing the commitments adopted by the APEC leaders at the summit in Manila, in particular aimed at boosting inclusive and quality growth.
According to Luis Quesada, “In today´s world, prosperity is no longer based on the mere accumulation of material wealth but on knowledge. The knowledge economy is a tangible reality now and this stresses the importance of human capital as the main asset for economies to grow and develop.”
Press-release at the official APEC web-site

Political and business leaders speak out on the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2016. The video interviews are available at Youtube Channel “ASEAN Today”.
“ASEAN Today” is a joint production of the ASEAN Secretariat and The Indonesia Channel, supported by AirAsia. Some materials are provided by broadcasters in member countries.
AseanTodayTV on Youtube
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

The decision was made on November 30, 2015 during the SDR basket valuation review which is carried by the IMF each five years. The inclusion of the RMB means that it meets the criterion of a freely-usable currency. The decision will take effect on October 1, 2016 when the SDR basket will be expanded to five currencies with following weights: U.S. dollars (41.73), euro (30.93), RMB (10.92), the Japanese yen (8.33), and the British pounds (8.09).
Press-release at the official IMF web-site

The women entrepreneurs gathering for the meeting held on November 30-December 1, 2015 discussed ways and means to formalise the GREAT Women in ASEAN Initiative (GWAI) as a regional entity and platform. It aims to further benefit small businesses especially those that are women-owned and/or managed by or employ women. GREAT Women stands for “Gender Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women”
The workshop identified core participants and product groups in the GWAI as well as finalised the governance structure in the organization.
The GREAT Women development model had its start in the Philippines in 2011, motivated by the need to assist women entrepreneurs to overcome challenges of product sourcing, design, production, packaging and marketing. GWAI was launched at the ASEAN SME Showcase and Conference (ASSC) in May 2015.
For more information about the GREAT Women in ASEAN Initiative, please contact Ms. Lisa Wijayani by email lisa.wijayani@asean.org.
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

During the meeting between Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretary-General Dmitry Mezentsev and ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh held on December 2, 2015, it was announced that the SCO intends to work closely with ASEAN through the Secretariat-to-Secretariat level and beyond.
On a first-priority basis the dialogue on in areas of common interests such as counter-terrorism, illegal drug trafficking and illegal immigration is planned to be expanded. Deepening cooperation in the areas of economy, finance and environment is also expected.
In 2005 the Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariats of the SCO and ASEAN was signed outlining the areas of cooperation of these international organizations.
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

The Philippines previously hosted the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting nearly two decades ago - in 1996 in Subic Bay.
The leaders of APEC economies discussed the current regional agenda issues, in particular boosting quality economic growth, prosperity and connectivity.
Under the shadow cast by the terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, and against Russian aircraft over the Sinai the APEC leaders strongly condemned all acts, methods, and practices of terrorism in all their forms and manifestations and emphasized a need for increased international cooperation in the fight against it.
The summit concluded with the Declaration adoption which outlines new commitments for APEC members to take forward over the coming year to build inclusive economies; foster micro, small and medium enterprises’ participation in regional and global markets; build sustainable and resilient communities; invest in human capital development; and enhance the regional economic integration agenda.
In the Declaration the leaders also welcomed the increased collaboration with the private sector, particularly through the mechanism of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) to find solutions to the new challenges the APEC economies face.
Peru will chair the APEC in the next year of 2016, the future hosts of APEC from 2017 to 2022 will be Viet Nam, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand accordingly. The Republic of Korea is expected to host APEC in 2025.
Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev attended the APEC summit. In his statement Dmitry Medvedev emphasized that Russia has been advocating deeper regional integration but all preferential trade agreements signed within the integration processes should not replace or damage but complement the multilateral trade system and the existing economic ties. Dmitry Medvedev emphasized Russia’s increasing contribution to the Asia-Pacific agenda. According to Dmitry Medvedev, Russia intends to contribute to the settlement of the most challenging regional issues, for example energy and food security.
Dmitry Medvedev held a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the APEC summit, in particular with the President of the Republic of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha and President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Truong Tan Sang.
2015 Leaders' Declaration. The 23rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Declaration - Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World: A Vision for an Asia-Pacific Community
Annex A: APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth
Annex B: APEC Services Cooperation Framework
Annex to the APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth
Statement on Supporting the Multilateral Trading System and the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference
News conference by Dmitry Medvedev following the APEC Leaders’ Meeting
Press-release at the official web-site of the Government of the Russian Federation