APEC Finance Ministers’ Agenda: Economic Recovery

APEC Finance Ministers’ Agenda: Economic Recovery

Issued by the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process

Moscow, Russia, 28 August 2012 – APEC Finance Ministers will gather this week in Moscow as part of a cluster of meetings to promote resilient and effective financial infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region to enable greater, more inclusive economic growth.

The APEC Finance Ministerial Meeting will take place on Thursday to strengthen policy collaboration across member economies. It will be preceded by a planning and technical meeting of APEC senior finance officials Tuesday and an assembly of APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies on Wednesday.

Regional assessments of global economic and financial developments, and the advancement of initiatives that encourage the reduction of debt and deficits, increased demand, structural reform and free trade to reinvigorate the world economy will be among the issues considered.

Additional steps to improve financial education in the region and better ensure strong, sustainable and balanced growth will also be in the spotlight.

“Financial literacy is an essential skill for everyone in the 21st century and an important component of economies’ efforts to effectively support economic and financial stability, inclusive development and the well-being of individuals and families,” said Andrey Bokarev, Chair of the APEC Senior Finance Officials' Meeting.

“For financial education initiatives to be effective and sustainable, they need to be appropriately integrated in a comprehensive economy-wide strategy and tailored to each economies’ circumstances, priorities and needs,” he explained.

Policies that support integrated disaster risk management financing will furthermore be on the agenda. The goal is to mitigate the high economic costs incurred by many APEC economies due to natural catastrophic events which have increased in frequency in recent years.

“The active exchange of knowledge and best practices is particularly important to promoting innovative disaster responses among financial authorities,” said Bokarev.

Helping to drive the conversation in Moscow will be representatives from business as well as organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

This week will mark the 18th meeting of APEC Finance Ministers’ who have gathered every year since 1994 to exchange views and information on regional macroeconomic and financial developments and on domestic and regional policy priorities.

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ENDS

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