Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chairman of the SOM APEC 2020 Hairil Yahri Yaacob said the event, themed “Optimising Human Potential Towards a Future of Shared Prosperity”, aims to clarify Malaysia’s priorities during APEC Year 2020.

He added that Malaysia looks towards an APEC that will take the lead in dealing with existing problems via analysing negative factors in trade and investment as well as promoting creativity and innovation.

After 30 years of Bogor Goals’ direction for free and open trade and investment in the region, the region’s economy grew from 23.5 billion USD in 1990 to 66.2 billion USD in 2018, an average of 3.7 percent per year, he said.

APEC economies, he said, had begun to realise that the wealth created by trade and investment within the region caused a wider disparity, leaving a large segment of the society behind.

Therefore, one of the goals that Malaysia is looking towards is sharing prosperity, putting people at its core and pursuing inclusive sustainable growth, he said.

In order to boost comprehensive development among member economies, he said Malaysia will raise initiatives, with a focus on women and youths, start-ups, solutions to population aging by tapping digital technologies and economy.

According to him, Malaysia will also seek to optimise natural resources management, thus mitigating harmful impacts on the environment via innovation.

During the four-day meeting, participants will discuss contents given by the host country, including agenda items for APEC 2020./.VNA