The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has intensified its push for its own free-trade agreement among its 21 member-economies to complement as well as fill in the gaps of existing FTAs in the region.
The 2024 APEC Leaders' Machu Picchu Declaration in Lima, Peru, last Nov. 16 also committed to continue adhering to multilateral trade and investments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) despite rising protectionism.
"We acknowledge the importance of, and will continue to work to deliver a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, inclusive and predictable trade and investment environment. We reaffirm our support for the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core, and remain committed to working toward necessary WTO reform, in order to improve all of its functions," the declaration read.
APEC leaders likewise endorsed the Ichma Statement on A New Look at the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), "through which we... will continue to foster a regional trade and investment environment that is both adaptable and responsive to emerging global challenges and the evolving needs of our economies," they said.
According to the Ichma Statement, the proposed FTAAP, which is in the works for two decades now, shall look into convergence as well as divergence with key FTAs of APEC member-economies.
For instance, the Philippines already has bilateral FTAs with Japan and South Korea.
It is also part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) regional FTAs with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, which are now covered by the wider Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
"The work on the FTAAP agenda must be advanced in both bottom-up as well as top-down strategies to effectively address the current challenges affecting trade and investment... Economies should continue to explore the links between trade and other sectors or emerging topics, such as digitalization, sustainability, inclusivity, supply chain resilience, among others," the Ichma Statement read.
APEC leaders likewise pushed the new Lima Roadmap to Promote the Transition to the Formal and Global Economies (2025-2040) agenda.
"The roadmap will guide the APEC region toward a sustainable transition of relevant economic actors from the informal to the formal economy, specifically aiming to empower those facing structural barriers to achieve their economic potential, enabling their integration into Asia-Pacific markets and value chains, and participating in the global economy," they said.
According to APEC leaders, member-economies can capture informal economic players into the formal net by enhancing regulatory coherence and fostering an enabling business environment; strengthening institutions for enhancing policy coordination and multi-stakeholder collaboration; and Leveraging innovative and digital tools to promote inclusive economic participation.
APEC leaders added that the formal economy will be more palatable regionwide by developing a skilled workforce through inclusive access to education, capacity building and employment; advancing inclusive trade and investment environments to broaden access to markets and global trade participation; as well as facilitating quality access to credit and advancing digital financial inclusion.
To do so, APEC targets to establish "policies and regulations designed to reduce economic barriers to the transition where appropriate, while encouraging measures that create incentives to make the transition more attractive."
Specifically, APEC aims to improve the access of currently informal economic actors and businesses, especially micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), to credit, investments and markets.
APEC's member-economies comprise three-fifths of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) and half of world trade, making the non-binding group a major driver of global economic growth.