Yoo Myung-hee at APEC Meeting: "Strengthening the WTO Multilateral Trading System"

APEC Trade Ministers Reaffirm Commitment to Joint COVID-19 Response at Ministerial Meeting
Discuss Easing Non-Tariff Barriers on Medical Supplies and Facilitating Essential Workforce Mobility

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Yoo Myung-hee, the head of the Trade Negotiations Headquarters, emphasized the need to strengthen the multilateral trade system of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She stressed the importance of supporting the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region into the global market.

On the 25th at 12 PM, Director Yoo participated in the APEC virtual trade meeting and made these suggestions.

Director Yoo presented three countermeasures to APEC member countries in response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Specifically, these included ▲supporting the integration of regional SMEs and vulnerable groups into the global value chain (GVC) through strengthening WTO multilateral trade ▲discussions on easing non-tariff barriers for essential goods such as medical supplies ▲facilitating cross-border movement of essential personnel to maintain an open and stable GVC.

She mentioned that APEC’s mid-to-long-term version, the 'Post-2020 Vision,' should reflect the rapidly changing business environment, including digital transformation.

The APEC Trade Ministers’ Meeting held that day was convened to discuss the concrete implementation of the joint declaration agreed upon by ministers on May 5.

The ministers reaffirmed the commitment of regional member countries to jointly respond to COVID-19 and adopted a joint declaration that specified the contents of the May declaration.

The declaration included ▲commitments to ease tariff and non-tariff barriers on trade of essential goods such as medical supplies and to facilitate trade ▲discussions on measures to facilitate cross-border movement of essential personnel ▲discussions on establishing a platform for collecting and sharing information on member countries’ COVID-19 response policies ▲support for the WTO multilateral trade system ▲acceleration of the Post-2020 Vision formulation process.

An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "The easing of tariff and non-tariff barriers on essential goods trade and facilitation of cross-border movement of essential personnel were achieved through our proposals," adding, "This will contribute to normalizing global economic activities of the industry."

The government plans to continue leading discussions on facilitating the movement of essential personnel and improving non-tariff measures on medical supplies through various multilateral and plurilateral channels, urging international cooperation.

This is to help our industry overcome the prolonged impact of COVID-19 and normalize economic activities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.