Members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will maintain stimulus policies until there is a durable recovery and will keep their markets open to trade, the latest draft statement from their leaders said. The 21 APEC leaders will also pledge to adopt “market oriented exchange rates that reflect underlying economic fundamentals”, and other reforms to sustain growth, according to the draft dated Nov. 12 and obtained by Reuters on Friday. The following are key points of the draft declaration that will be issued on Sunday at the end of the APEC summit: q Develop a new growth paradigm for a “changed post-crisis landscape” q Strengthen financial supervision to prevent another crisis q Undertake monetary policies consistent with stability in the context of market-oriented exchange rates that reflect fundamentals q Support and develop small and medium enterprises to gain better access to global markets q Create and maintain jobs by providing training and skill upgrades for workers q Consider income supplements or earned income tax credits that encourage work and enterprise q Design social safety nets that provide short-term economic security but avoid long-term dependence q Call for global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will need to peak over the next few years and must be reduced substantially by 2050 q Enhance work to achieve the goal of increasing forest cover in the region by at least 20 million hectares (50 million acres) by 2020 q Explore ways to reduce barriers and pledge to refrain from introducing new barriers to trade and investment in Environmental Goods and Services q Phase out fossil fuel subsidies over the medium term * Encourage regular, timely, and accurate reporting of oil production, consumption, refining and stock levels as appropriate q Refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services q Exercise pragmatism and “all possible flexibility” to conclude the Doha round of world trade talks by next year q Continue to “develop building blocks” towards a possible Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific in the future. q Aspire to achieve an APEC-wide improvement of 25 percent in five key areas of doing business by 2015: Starting a business, getting credit, enforcing contracts, trading across borders and dealing with permits. APEC members economies are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, HK, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam.
