The 25th APEC
Economic Leaders’ Meeting ended in Danang.
November
11, 2017
13:30
Danang
On the second
day of the Meeting, the APEC leaders reviewed the prospects
for the global economy with Managing Director
of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde.
During
the business breakfast, a discussion was held on establishing
an Asia-Pacific free trade zone and a possible expansion
of the APEC membership.
The final
meeting focused on investments and new driving forces
in international trade.
A joint declaration on the results
of the forum was approved. The 2017 APEC economic leaders
assessed the current regional and global economic situation, agreed
on the ways to deepen cooperation, identified a number
of tasks for next year.
November
11, 2017
In addition,
the President of Russia had a conversation with US
President Donald
Trump on the sidelines of the Meeting. The two
leaders approved a joint statement on Syria.
After
the completion of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum, Vladimir Putin answered questions from Russian
journalists.
* * *
Transcript
of meeting with Russian journalists
Question: Good
afternoon. The APEC summit is about to end. I would like
to ask about your assessment of the work with the leaders,
and possibly some organisational matters.In line with APEC
traditions, a final document has been adopted. How did this work progress?
There were probably some disagreements.
President
of Russia Vladimir Putin: Regarding organisation, Vietnam has done
everything possible for us to work comfortably and has
undoubtedly created a very good atmosphere. This is number one.
Second.
Concerning the summit’s theme – it is a highly relevant topic.
You know – since most of the journalists here are Russian –
we pay much attention to the digital economy in Russia
in its different aspects and manifestations, and we consider
problems from different angles.
I think
it is vitally important that Vietnam raised exactly this topic because we
should not only discuss some of the issues together but also resolve
them together. It is impossible to do it alone.
For example,
there is much talk about small and medium-sized businesses, and micro
business, but we have to realise how it can be integrated
in the overall system, the general operational chain
of the modern economy, the information economy.
What
needs to be done to achieve that? Russia had specific proposals
in this respect, and I voiced them. It concerns the very
definition of the conceptual apparatus – what is digital
economy, what is digital trade and so forth. It seems very simple
at first glance but in fact it requires careful analysis.
Or, take
another example: we must understand the social consequences of new
technologies. Some people say that it is dangerous and frightening since
a lot of jobs will become redundant, and it is unclear what
should be done about it. Others say there is no problem; we will just need
retraining.
But it
requires an expert assessment, it requires working with trade unions,
international experts and the International Labour Organisation,
the ILO. All of this was a subject for our discussion.
Other
issues were also discussed, of course, including the fight against
terrorism and the situation on global energy markets. We have
just talked about it during business lunch.
We also
spoke about the future of APEC. Mutual trade grew many-fold during
the organisation’s lifetime. This basically shows the efficiency
of the organisation.
We
discussed the need to further liberalise markets and build up
relations within a common and open market. Although some think that
it is too early to talk about it because of the different levels
of the member states’ economies.
Ms
Lagarde’s report on the global economic situation was very
interesting. We know that the global economy keeps growing
and the mid-term forecast is good. But according to her there
are risks related to the fact that the wage growth rate
in the developed economies is slowing down, which cuts into
the consumer purchasing power.
She also
spoke about the need for a balanced budget, finance
and credit policy, and the need for structural changes
in the economy. These were the subjects of our discussion.
All that
is extremely interesting, important and needed. And the fact
that we have a general idea of the direction to move
in is of great significance.
