World leaders wrapped up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Thursday (November 19), with the host Philippine President Benigno Aquino citing the importance of collaborative efforts in ensuring quality growth.
“Our theme for APEC 2015 has been building inclusiving economies, building a better world by balancing the discussions in APEC between the technical aspects of trade and its implications on the social and environmental challenges of growth, we have refocused our discussion towards all our people,” he told reporters after the last session of the summit.
He said one of the main topics during the summit was the creation of a disaster mitigation framework and how to address climate change.
The summit discussed efforts to promote trade across their countries, spurred by a sag in economic growth across much of their region, which is home to 3 billion people and accounts for 60 percent of global output.
It was an opportunity for leaders of the 12-member Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to meet for the first time since they sealed a deal to eliminate trade barriers and enable free trade.
However, the main concern among these 12 was whether the U.S. Congress would ratify the pact before President Barack Obama leaves office in just over a year from now.
The APEC Summit was also a chance for leaders to hold bilateral talks.
Obama and Trudeau said they agreed on the need to do more to protect the environment and also on the importance of the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State.
“Any engagement by Canada needs to be done with a responsible approach that recognises that this is going to be… this is a problem without a quick solution and we should not be pretending it is. Canada will continue to engage with the international community in a way that is responsible and appropriate,” Trudeau said in a news conference after the summit.
Trudeau though vowed to stick to a promise to withdraw six Canadian jets that have been attacking the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Diplomats say the United States and Britain have expressed concern about the proposed withdrawal, saying it could undermine the coalition.
Trudeau added he had reassured the president that Canada was committed to the U.S.-led campaign against the militants. Canada, he says, could contribute more effectively by training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq.
“Mr. Obama only just asked me that I work with him to ensure that Canada be seen engaging fully in the coalition against the Islamic State. He was reassured by my promise to continue to engage at many levels including with the military. And we will work with our partners in the coalition to make sure that there is no negative impact on the coalition operations as we move towards a different type of mission from what had been doing until now,” Trudeau said.
APEC’s 21 leaders vowed to prevent terrorism from undermining values that underpin their economies, and said there was a need for greater international cooperation to fight the scourge.
“Under the shadow cast by the terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, and against Russian aircraft over the Sinai, and elsewhere, we strongly condemn all acts, methods, and practices of terrorism in all their forms and manifestations,” they said in a declaration after their summit in Manila.
The mood was sombre at APEC after last Friday’s killing spree by Islamic State fighters in Paris, where at least 129 people died.
In a separate news conference on Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would be ready to discuss an agreement on a free-trade zone with Japan through the newly established Eurasian Economic Union.
Launched in January, the EEU links the economies of Russia and four other former Soviet republics, and Medvedev noted it has already signed an agreement on a free-trade zone with Vietnam.
“We are ready to sign such agreements with other countries, even with Japan, if (Tokyo) is interested,” Medvedev told reporters at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila.
Japan and Russia are technically still at war, as a dispute over Russian-held islands in the Pacific has prevented them from signing a peace treaty after World War Two.
But both sides have recently spoken about the need to improve ties, and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are each planning visits to the other’s country.
Russia, isolated by Western economic sanctions imposed after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula last year, has been trying to strengthen its economic, political and bargaining position in the post-Soviet countries and in Asia. (Reuters)
