Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Must Be Able To Meet All Modern-day Requirements

Asia Pacific economic cooperation must be able to meet all modern-day requirements, reads the Declaration of the APEC forum, which will shortly be signed by APEC economic leaders. According to the text of the document, leaders of APEC member-countries admit that the forum "must display dynamism and promptly react to the changes occurring in world and regional economics by adjusting itself to modern-day requirements." The APEC must focus its attention on wide and just distribution of advantages accompanying its growth and unite into a closer and stronger partnership in the interests of regional economic cooperation, believe APEC leaders. With that in mind, they proclaim "Shanghai Conciliation a strategic and promising agenda in the interests of APEC development in the years to come." "Conciliation reflects our common resolution to fulfil our commitments, but it is also a practical plan outlining the ! ! key measures necessary for achieving our goals and aims," stress APEC leaders. Likewise, Shanghai Conciliation means loyalty to the task of broadening APEC's vision of the current situation by means of working out a complex of conceptual and practical measures to use as a guide in the new century. These measures are meant to reflect the changes brought about by globalization and "new economics;" they also imply the importance of supplementing the agenda with reform-related issues and development of potential, both at a national and international level. According to the Declaration, APEC leaders instruct their ministers and officials to make sure the Conciliation agenda is realized. "Undoubtedly, the APEC vision we have jointly worked out will eventually produced the desired result and help create a stable, safe and prosperous Asia Pacific community," stresses the document.