How to deal with the wars against Ukraine and in the Middle East? The heads of state and government of the Asia-Pacific region did not find common ground at their summit here. The reason is the composition of the group.
The members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) were unable to agree on a common position on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East at their summit in San Francisco. The two conflicts were left out of the joint final declaration, which was published on Friday evening (local time). Some leaders objected to including the issues in the final declaration “on the grounds that, in their view, APEC is not a forum for discussing geopolitical issues.”
A separate statement from the APEC chairmanship, which the US held this year, said only that “most members” strongly condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. At their meeting in San Francisco, the member states also “exchanged” themselves about the crisis in the Gaza Strip and presented their “respective positions”.
The APEC Chairmanship further announced that some APEC heads of state and government supported the joint messages of the Arab-Islamic summit on November 11 in Riyadh. The summit had called for a UN resolution to stop the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and an international peace conference. There is criticism of the Israeli military’s actions and great solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, particularly in predominantly Muslim countries.
unity Economic issues
However, in the joint final declaration, the APEC heads of state and government reaffirmed their determination to create “a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, inclusive and predictable trade and investment environment”. To achieve this, the World Trade Organization (WTO) must be reformed.
All its functions need to be improved and discussions must be held to “have a complete and well-functioning dispute resolution system accessible to all members by 2024,” the statement said.
Group of 21 member states
21 countries around the Pacific work together in the APEC group. In addition to this year’s host USA, these include China, Russia and Japan as well as the predominantly Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Together they generate around 60 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Russia was represented at the meeting by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk.