"We come out with two stand points - the establishment of a connectivity framework and a draft leaders` declaration on investment," Chairman of the APEC SOM 2013 Yuri Thamrin said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - APEC delegates closed their Senior Officials` Meeting here on Thursday after they agreed to establish a connectivity framework for regional economic, trade and investment cooperation.

The Chairman of the APEC SOM 2013 Yuri Thamrin said here on Thursday that during the two week meeting, the APEC delegates discussed economic, trade, investment and other related issues.

"We come out with two stand points - the establishment of a connectivity framework and a draft leaders` declaration on investment," he said.

The framework will address not only trade and investment sectors, but also people-to-people connectivity as the subject of economy.

According to Thamrin, who also director general of Asia, Pacific and Africa affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the APEC SOM elaborated in the framework nine proposals which will be followed up in the next SOMs in Surabaya, East Java and in Medan, North Sumatra.

Those nine proposals concerned infrastructure development, disaster resilience, mainstreaming ocean issues, public and private policy dialogue, promoting cross-border education, enhancing SMEs and women entrepreneurship, health program, farmer empowerment, and deliverables to WTO forum.

"We have started working and hopefully they can be included in the declaration of the APEC leaders` meeting in October in Bali," he said.

Moreover, Thamrin added APEC SOM I in Jakarta was appreciated by all delegations as a success event for the Bogor Goals aimed to reduce barriers in trade and investment and promote the free flow of goods, services and capital.

"We also enhance sustainable economic growth and connectivity as formulated in a more concrete framework," he said.

APEC SOM 2013 was officially closed on Thursday after the two-week meeting of 26 committees and sub-committees of APEC. It was attended by 1,300 delegates from 21 APEC countries.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013