The Malaysian delegation scheduled to attend the virtual APEC Economic Leaders’ Week (AELW) 2021, which starts from 8th to 12th November 2021, will call for stronger collaborative efforts among APEC economies in espousing sustainable and inclusive recovery, to ensure a future-ready region.
As the spotlight of post-recovery efforts tends to concentrate on the economic and health forefront, Malaysia will also share her views on the importance of expediting the adoption of digitalisation, innovation and sustainability to create more opportunities for the APEC community.
With economic recovery efforts as the overarching theme for APEC this year, this call to action is key for the region to realise the aspiration of achieving an inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous region for all, underscoring Putrajaya Vision 2040 on shared prosperity that was adopted last year.
With the view to accelerate regional recovery, Malaysia will be emphasising our unwavering commitment and solidarity to rebuild the region with vigorous and unrelenting efforts in pursuing economic recovery and safeguarding the public health of our people.
This year’s AELW will be the second virtual AELW after Malaysia’s successful APEC chairmanship last year. The AELW serves as a declamatory avenue for APEC Ministers to exchange their views and perspectives on the current and future topics in APEC while steering the APEC Senior Officials to continue working towards the betterment of the region – socially and economically.
The AELW will commence with the convening of the APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM). YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry, together with YB Dato’ Kamarudin Jaffar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs will jointly head the Malaysian delegation at the AMM, which will consist of two sessions. In these sessions, Ministers are scheduled to deliberate on how best trade could accelerate economic recovery as well as best efforts towards attaining economic and technical cooperation for a sustainable future.
New Zealand as the Chair of APEC this year, will be organising the 2-day virtual AMM for Ministers to undertake deeper deliberation on these topics. The AMM will be co-chaired by The Honourable Damien O’Connor, Minister for Trade and Export Growth and The Honourable Nanaia Mahuta, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The AMM will also feature experts and prominent speakers including Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and Patricia Espinosa, Executive-Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The speakers will be providing their perspectives and insights on the state of play in their respective organisations with regard to economic recovery in the region while providing guidance to APEC economies in the related fields.
With the participation of APEC Trade Ministers and Foreign Ministers across eight time zones, the AMM will be set as a preceding meeting to the pinnacle APEC meeting of the year, APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM), scheduled on 12th November 2021. Prime Minister, the Honourable Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob will be leading Malaysia at the AELM.
At the end of the AMM, the ministers are expected to adopt the 32nd APEC Ministerial Meeting Joint Ministerial Statement 2021 that will pave the way for regional recovery efforts in line with the priorities set by New Zealand as the APEC host for 2021 with the overarching theme of recovery via agile and robust economic and trade policies, increasing inclusion and sustainability, and enhancing innovation and digitalisation.
