Illustrative image (Source: dreamstime.com)Finance ministers of member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ended their 22nd meeting on September 11 after launching the Cebu Action Plan (CAP), a roadmap for a more sustainable financial future for the Asia-Pacific region.
The CAP is a voluntary and non-binding roadmap aiming to create an APEC community that is more prosperous, financially integrated, transparent, resilient, and connected, said the 2015 APEC Finance Ministers' statement issued after the two-day meeting held in the central Philippine province of Cebu.
The action plan is composed of four pillars, including promoting financial integration, advancing fiscal reforms and transparency, enhancing financial resilience, and accelerating infrastructure development and financing.
The CAP continues the progress towards the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment, as well as the Kyoto Report on Growth Strategy and Finance of identifying priorities for future growth in the APEC region, the joint statement said.
The document will be submitted to APEC leaders during their meeting in Manila in November.
Finance ministers also agreed that fiscal transparency and reforms figure in optimising public investments across the region.
In view of the high costs borne by many APEC economies due to natural disasters, APEC economies vowed to enhance financial resilience by building deeper financial markets.
The ministers expressed confidence that resiliency can be bolstered through the development of innovative disaster risk financing and insurance mechanisms.
Recognising the heightened role of quality infrastructure in the region, the finance ministers also looked forward to the development of an APEC Public-Private Partnership (PPP) knowledge portal in collaboration with the Global Infrastructure Hub to serve as an online repository of PPP Infrastructure projects.
The 23rd Finance Ministers' Meeting will be held in Lima, Peru in October 2016.-VNA
