[ad_1]
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today that the mistakes of the past should not be repeated and that it is essential that the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation “commit to keeping markets open and trade flowing.”
Your playlist will load after this ad.
With New Zealand practically hosting APEC this year, the prime minister made some requests from the nations. Source: APEC
Ardern made his opening remarks during the APEC CEO Dialogue in a session moderated by Microsoft President Brad Smith.
The gathering of world leaders, business leaders and international media is being held online this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
APEC is made up of multiple meetings of high-level officials throughout the year, the most important of which is Leaders’ Week.
Ardern said all APEC leaders will focus on having a plan for two things when they meet tonight: the health response to the pandemic and driving the economic recovery.
“Decisions made now about how to recover from the crisis will be critical to our well-being for decades to come.
“For the first time in decades, we are witnessing major setbacks in the fight against poverty: 90 million people around the world are projected to fall beyond the poverty line,” he said.
For all nations, the fight against Covid-19 is “unquestionably tough, as we see the infection increasing in different parts of the world, including the APEC region,” Ardern said.
He said he expected leaders to agree on a new vision to guide the work of the next 20 years for the Asia-Pacific region, “focusing on three engines of economic growth, trade, digital, innovation, sustainability and inclusion.”
“We must not repeat the mistakes of history, repeating inter-protectionism. APEC must commit to keeping markets open and trade flowing.”
Ardern said New Zealand plans to ask APEC economies to work together to plan for a lasting economic recovery, to work for collective growth and “grow together, to foster prosperity and well-being that is sustainable, inclusive and digitally enabled.”
He acknowledged that Covid-19 has had a disproportionate impact on women, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities and said New Zealand is focusing on getting those people back to decent work quickly.
“These are challenging times, but these times offer a significant opportunity to do things differently.”
Smith, the Microsoft executive, asked Ardern about a variety of topics including improving worker skills, the digital divide, climate change, and the lessons she learned from the March 15 terror attack and the Call for Christchurch.
“When I reflect on that moment, it was within the tragedy itself and within the tool used by the terrorist… the ability to broadcast so widely an absolutely heinous and appalling dehumanizing video.
“It was the ability to do that, inside was also the solution.
“Our social media platforms allow us to be so interconnected and yet our idea of dealing with problems when they went terribly wrong was very isolated.”
On climate change, Ardern said that collective responsibility is needed, and that the Pacific region especially sees the “immeasurable consequences in terms of rising sea levels.”
The APEC host from New Zealand had already faced problems after a fire swept through the Sky City Convention Center, which is still under construction, where the event was supposed to take place.
APEC was canceled last year in Chile due to unrest. In 2018, it took place in Papua New Guinea, marred by clashes between the United States and China that were locked in a trade dispute.
It was last held in New Zealand in 1999 under then-Prime Minister Jenny Shipley.
