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Jul. 23 – The members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have decided to extend its present investment and trade regulations until 2010.
The group held its Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in Singapore this week attended by trade ministers from the 21 APEC economies. At the top of their agenda were policy changes to improve the region’s response to the financial crisis.
Instead of adjusting trade and investment barriers at the end of this year, trade ministers have decided to maintain the status quo and hopefully wait for the markets to rebound.
“We agreed to extend the above commitment for another year, that is until 2010, and stand ready to extend this further, if necessary,” the trade ministers attending the Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting of APEC 2009 was quoted by Xinhua in a statement.
The group added that they will “promptly notify the WTO of any measures that fall short of these commitments.”
The trade ministers also promised to regularly evaluate their commitment to free trade and open markets by reducing barriers to trade and investment reform.
