APEC members should integrate more to achieve common prosperity

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies will soon gather in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok to discuss ways to facilitate regional development in the face of an ailing global economy.

APEC, the largest regional bloc on earth, accounts for around 50 percent of the world's total gross domestic product (GDP) and 40 percent of its population and trade.

However, there is also huge diversity among the 21 APEC members as their economies differ sharply in type and development.

Prior to the meeting, Yu Jianhua, China's assistant commerce minister, called on APEC members to bear in mind the nature of the alliance and to take members' differences into consideration.

Yu also urged the members to uphold non-discriminatory policies, openness and tolerance while advancing regional integration.

As was stressed in the group's 1994 Bogor declaration, APEC leaders should reinforce economic cooperation "on the basis of equal partnership, shared responsibility, mutual respect, common interest, and common benefit."

However, some APEC members, especially the developed economies, put their own interests above all else, ignoring other partners' voices on such issues as the lowering of tariffs on green products and services, and carbon emission reductions.

Moreover, some members even take others' development as a threat and create barriers under the excuse of protecting domestic industries.

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