ISLAMABAD, May 18: The United Nations has proposed the creation of the ‘Asia-Pacific Economic Summit’ (APES) as the highest level body to set the region’s agenda for enhancing regional economic integration to make development process more inclusive and sustainable.
The APES to meet annually would adopt a long-term vision for an economic community of Asia and the Pacific and its contours reflect on global challenges and affairs and the region’s response.
The proposal for APES has been elaborated in a study prepared by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) for the annual session of the regional commission which opened in Bangkok on Thursday.
The study has suggested that the ESCAP should convene the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration next year to consider possible ways to implement its recommendations and chart out a road map to grow together for shared prosperity and for an inclusive and sustainable Asia-Pacific century.
The study felt that “in the aftermath of the global economic and financial crisis, it has become clear that business as usual is no longer an option and that it necessary to look for alternative ways and means to sustain the region’s dynamism”.
The study, titled “Growing together: Economic Integration for an inclusive and sustainable Asia-Pacific Century” also proposed that ministerial councils on trade and investment, finance, transport, energy, food security and agriculture, environment, disaster risk reduction and technology should be formed to develop specific agendas of work for each sector.
The ESCAP study suggested formation of a consultative committee of sub-regional associations which would bring together all sub-regional bodies such as Asean, Saarc, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BISMTEC), the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
The committee would meet annually at the sidelines of Asia-Pacific Economic Summit.
The study has proposed a four-pronged action agenda for enhancing regional economic integration in Asia and the Pacific to contribute not only to sustaining the region’s dynamism, but also to making its development process more inclusive and sustainable.
The agenda being discussed at the ESCAP session entails the formation of a broader integrated regional market, seamless physical connectivity across the region, financial cooperation for closing the development gaps and economic cooperation for addressing shared vulnerabilities and risks.
The agenda could be instrumental in the realisation of an inclusive and sustainable Asia-Pacific century in which the region would not only be free from poverty and hunger but also continue to prosper in a sustainable manner, meeting its needs without compromising the interests of future generation, according to the study.
A dynamic, inclusive and sustainable Asia-Pacific region could become an effective locomotive to support economic growth in the rest of the world, contribute to fostering peace, and exercise influence in global economic governance to a degree that is commensurate with its rising economic weight, it says.