APEC summit kicks off in Bali

The APEC business summit-2013 opens on Bali Island in Indonesia. The summit meeting is due to last for three days and is attended by the leaders of the countries that account for more than a half of the gross world product.

The first day programme features presentations of the economic potential of Indonesia, China and India. Roundtable discussions and sessions are not expected before Sunday. The overall number of delegates representing the political and economic elites of Asia and the Pacific will make up more than a thousand, according to Voice of Russia, TASS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to address the APEC summit on Monday night to focus on new sources of sustainable and long-term economic growth in the Asia-Pacific Region.

 “This will offer a good opportunity to promote Russian approaches towards regional integration processes due to the social and economic development of Siberia and the Far East, as well as Russia’s participation in the Customs Union and the Eurasian economic space, which is being formed now,” Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Vladimir Putin’s main bilateral meetings have also been scheduled for Monday, and he will first meet China’s President Xi Jinping.

Central to the summit will prove the advancement towards the Bogor Goals, which have been the APEC’s agenda since 1994.

When the APEC leaders met in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994, they committed to achieving free and open trade and investment in the region by 2020. According to some observers, the participants will also take up the promotion of and support for small and medium-sized businesses.

The organizers point out that they have also put on the agenda the issues that have to do with renewable energy sources and the production of ecologically clean products. 100 eco-friendly buses running on palm-oil biodiesel fuel have been manufactured expressly for the Bali summit.

Taking part in the APEC-2013 forum are delegations from Russia, Australia, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Canada, China, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua-New Guinea, Peru, the USA, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Chile, South Korea and Japan. 

M.D