International: APEC Senior Officials have concluded a timely cluster of trade and sectoral meetings in Port Moresby with signs of momentum towards addressing near and long-term challenges heading into a set of pivotal Minister-level meetings.
Providing calm and constructive dialogue in the face of global frictions over trade, officials worked to establish areas of common ground for advancing APEC’s target of free and open trade and investment in the region by 2020 – known as the Bogor Goals – and post-2020 vision.
“We are crafting a new agenda for post-2020 and at the same time ensuring that we find ways to enhance the completion of unfinished business,” noted Ambassador Ivan Pomaleu, Chair of APEC’s Senior Officials this year.
APEC Mining Ministers will take these issues forward when they meet in Port Moresby on Thursday, confronting investment challenges within the industry brought by tariff, trade and technological disruptions as well as barriers to innovation-driven mining growth and inclusive development.
It will be followed by the APEC Women and the Economy Forum here in September to address barriers to greater women’s entrepreneurship and participation in the digital economy.
The APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting will take place in October to address issues such as financial inclusion and infrastructure financing vital to digital development in Papua New Guinea and the region.