Major agreements reached in lead-up to 2014 APEC summit

Leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region will gather in Beijing on Nov 10-11 for the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting.[Special coverage]

In the run-up to the peak of this year's APEC meetings, a host of consensuses have been reached under this premier regional cooperation framework. The major ones are as follows.

FISCAL POLICY

On Oct. 22, finance ministers of APEC economies vowed to flexibly implement fiscal policies, in a bid to boost economic and job growth.

They reaffirmed commitments to addressing weaknesses in APEC economies, unleashing new sources of potential growth through new structural reforms, and fulfilling existing reform goals.

In particular, they agreed to continue to develop high value-added services, support small and medium-sized enterprises and increase investment in research and development.

The finance ministers also stressed the role infrastructure investment plays in realizing growth potential and meeting development goals.

FOOD SECURITY

On Sept 19, the 3rd APEC Ministerial Meeting on Food Security concluded in Beijing with the issuance of the Beijing Declaration on APEC Food Security.

The declaration details measures to achieve the following objectives: to boost agricultural productivity and food production, to improve post-harvest management to reduce food loss, and to strengthen regional cooperation to promote food security.

APEC agriculture and food ministers also unveiled a new innovation-based cooperation framework to ensure safe, accessible and sustainable food supplies amid changing global conditions.

They vowed to enhance surveillance and early warning information- sharing as well as personnel training on trans-boundary animal and plant diseases and strengthen information exchange and cooperation on safety of food imports and exports.

They called upon APEC economies to step up efforts to liberalize and facilitate agricultural trade and investment in the APEC region and combat protectionism, including bans and other restrictions on food exports that may cause price volatility.

To address the effects of climate change, the ministers agreed to pursue joint research of new eco-friendly technologies, planting patterns and disease and pest control methods.

SME DEVELOPMENT

On Sept 6, the 21st APEC Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Ministerial Meeting, held in Nanjing, east China, issued a statement detailing a new package of joint actions to strengthen the development of SMEs.

The document focuses on strengthening the innovation capacity and sustainability of SMEs while eliminating barriers to their participation in cross-border trade.

The ministers endorsed the Nanjing Declaration on Promoting SME Innovative Development, which mandates policy support for electronic commerce platform development and the application of "big data" and "open data" to facilitate SME expansion and cross-border trade.