Asia pacific countries aim to reach stronger economic growth

Finance ministers and senior officials of Asia-Pacific member countries concluded their 20th meeting on Friday, agreeing to place the economies on stronger, sustainable and more balanced growth path, a joint statement said here. The countries in the region were willing to cooperate to achieve reforms for the goal, they said after the two-day meeting here. The countries would implement their fiscal policies flexibly to support economic growth and jobs, while remaining committed to sustainable public finances. The weakening global economy along with the US tapering of quantitative easing policy plan have eased global demand, widened trade balance deficit gap, depreciated currencies and accelerated inflation in emerging market. "We reaffirm our commitments to re-balancing global demand, and to taking the necessary actions to strengthen market confidence, support growth, maintain stability and increase resilience in emerging market economies," the finance ministers and the senior officials said in the statement. "We resolve to intensify our efforts to implement structural reforms that boost investment, address fundamental weaknesses, enhance productivity and competitiveness, increase labor force participation and employment, and address internal and external imbalances," they said. The capital flows in the globe have been volatile, private investment remains subdued in many economies, regional growth disparities remain wide, global re balancing is incomplete, and unemployment remains unacceptably high in some economies, according to the statement. The ministers and the officials also reiterated commitments to move more rapidly toward more market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals, and avoid persistent exchange rate misalignment. "We will refrain from competitive devaluation and will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes. We will resist all forms of protectionism and keep our markets open," the participants of the APEC Finance Minister Meeting said. They said that they recognized that strengthened and sustained growth would be accompanied by an eventual transition toward the normalization of monetary policies. "Sound macroeconomic policies, structural reforms and strong prudential frameworks will help address an increase in financial market volatility. We will continue to monitor financial market conditions carefully," they said. The participants said that they recognized the importance of productivity enhancing infrastructure projects in supporting the region's growth potential and they take note of the APEC MultiYear Plan for Infrastructure Development and Investment. "We acknowledge that it is necessary to enhance private sector participation in infrastructure projects in order to meet infrastructure needs in the region and are committed to supporting this by taking further actions to improve the investment climate. We will continue to coordinate our work in infrastructure financing and development with other," they said. The meeting decided that the 21st APEC Finance Minister would be held in September next year in China's Hong Kong under the chairmanship of China, said Chair of the meeting and also Indonesian Finance Minister Chatib Basri. APEC is an increasingly large part of the global economy and plays a key role in driving global growth.