Retreat I APEC: Concrete and measurable target post 2020

Manila. At the first retreat at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting held today at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Manila, Vice President Jusuf Kalla underlined the importance of defining vision after Bogor Goals 2020.

“In five years from now, we will arrive at a significant point of achieving Bogor Goals 2020. It is timely now to start discussing what is next after 2020,” he said.

Mr Kalla argued that economic integration and liberalization among APEC member states should benefit the people. “That is why Indonesia has since two years ago promoted the issue of development products, such as crude palm oil, rubber, rattan, pulp paper, and fishery products, to be discussed in the summit, to show that APEC is concerned with inclusive growth,” he said.

In line with the theme of the retreat, “Inclusive Growth through Economic Integration”, the Vice President wished economic integration would speed up poverty reduction and reduce income inequality.

“APEC should define concrete and measurable targets so that lower class society could benefit from the economic growth,” he urged.

With this regards, Mr Kalla found it important to involve small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the global economic chain to attain the goals.

He also promoted infrastructure development to be accellerated. “Infrastructure and logistics support will help solve the supply-chain gap and price disparity, especially for remote areas,” he said.

Concluding his statement, the Vice President urged the implementation APEC Connectivity Blue Print, particularly on infrastructure funding and investment using public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.