as the global economy remains fragile and the mood of protectionism is rising around the world, asia-pacific business leaders are calling for trade and investment liberalization at a meeting that concluded in shenzhen on thursday.
juan raffo, chair of the apec business advisory council (abac) 2016, said at the third abac meeting this year that was held in shenzhen from monday to thursday: "pressing ahead with trade and investment liberalization and with structural reform are key to achieving a more inclusive, high-quality and stable growth trajectory for the economies in the asia-pacific region.
"this is the central message that the apec business advisory council will be bringing when we meet with apec leaders at the apec summit in peru in november," he said.
abac members believe that at this time of continuing fragility in the global economy, it would be damaging to regional growth prospects if public anxiety about the merits of trade liberalization and globalization was met with a protectionist reaction, abac said in a press release.
governments and businesses should do a better job of explaining the benefits of open trade and investment while at the same time putting in place policies that ensure that those benefits can be shared by all sectors of the community, according to abac.
abac, created by the asia-pacific economic cooperation (apec) in 1995, is the primary voice of business in apec.
