APEC trade ministers, representing more than half of the world's GDP and 44% of world trade, have concluded their meetings in Surabaya, Indonesia.
A moment of sincere gratitude from the Chinese minister of commerce for the sympathy shown to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake as the APEC ministers responsible for trade concluded their meetings.
And the negotiations have proved to be fruitful.
The APEC economies have agreed to develop an ambitious APEC framework on connectivity to ensure that the region, that has been an engine of growth for global economy, is not slowing down
Gita Wirjawan, Indonesian Trade Minister, said, "The framework will bring greater coherence and add impetus to ongoing connectivity related work in APEC."
It will cover physical infrastructure to structural reforms and cross border initiative.
The ministers were also discussing on how to revive the Doha negotiations.
A complex set of negotiation on wide ranging rules governing trade and investment in between the member of WTO economies.
A negotiation that has been stuck because of different national interest, but can prove to be crucial in governing global trade.
The Indonesian Trade Minister also said, "There is broad convergence of view that the negotiation as it stands now is not on course to a successful outcome at MC9 on 3-6 December 2013 in bali. We call on the WTO members to change the quality and level of engagement in order to expeditiously and effectively advance work."
As the meeting concludes, the ministers have no illusion that they're facing a massive challenge, but this meeting has provided a common ground to revive negotiation.
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