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APEC Has Special Role to Play Amid Looming Global Downturn: Experts
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has a special role to play in enhancing open economic ties and reviving business confidence amid a global economic downturn, especially following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., said a panel of economic experts in Shanghai Wednesday.
Professor Chris Findlay, member of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), told a press conference Wednesday afternoon that he expected the APEC would face new challenges after the terror attacks while explaining an economic forecast of Asia-Pacific conducted by a PECC panel of experts.
The forecast, titled Pacific Economic Outlook 2001, was conducted last June by Professor Ross Garnaut, a noted Australian economist, and her colleagues at the Australian National University. PECC, a policy-oriented organization devoted to promoting economic cooperation in the Pacific Rim, is the only private observer body in APEC ministerial forum.
According to the report, the Asia-Pacific region has been in the early stages of harder time rather than the midst of a timely correction of unsustainable high growth.
Average growth in Asia-Pacific for 2001 is expected to be merely 1 percent. A moderate strengthening is expected in 2002, still leaving it the third weakest since the U.S. recession in the early 1980s, said the report.
The slump is likely to be further aggravated by the terror attacks on the U.S. which shattered consumers and investors confidence, especially in the U.S., but probably in all Asia- Pacific economies, the report noted.
As leading suppliers of hardware to the U.S., Singapore and Chinese Taipei are among the hardest hit by the so-called "tech wreck" in the United States, with their output expected to witness the biggest fall.
APEC's long-standing commitment to open economic ties has a special value when trust between communities separated by cultural and religious differences tend to break, the report said.
Another major impact of the September 11 incident would be a general increase in transaction costs for international trade and investment. This has made APEC's efforts to cut international transaction costs through trade and investment facilitation all the more valuable, said the report.
It is imperative for APEC economies to provide leadership during their Shanghai meetings in creating new momentum for trade cooperation across all civilizations, it added.
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