INGENIEUR
INGENIEUR
MSMEs are also well placed to promote entrepreneurship , to benefit from structural reform and to advance sustainability in our economies , maximising the impact of policies , strategies and best practices . Strengthening of MSMEs will imply concrete progress in increasing their innovation capacities and competitiveness , including intellectual property rights commercialisation , work towards guaranteeing access to financial means and capacity building , enhancing their participation in the internet and digital economy through electronic commerce , reducing the technological gap , strengthening ethical business practices to support MSMEs ’ growth and cross border trade , progressively inducing a shift into a more sustainable , eco-friendly and green production , and supporting their internationalisation including through the means of ICT .
We welcome the Supporting Industry Initiative and look forward to its implementation in 2017 . We recognise the potential of greening MSMEs for sustainable development in APEC and encourage officials to carry out additional work on this topic next year .
We resolve to advance Global Value Chains ( GVCs ) development , Supply Chain Connectivity , and Supply Chain Resiliency . We commend the solid progress towards the completion of the APEC Trade in Value-Added ( TiVA ) Database by 2018 . We welcome the Report on APEC Developing Economies ’ Better Participation in GVCs and encourage further efforts to enable better participation , greater value added and upward mobility of developing economies and MSMEs in GVCs . We recognise the value of using new technologies to achieve greater efficiencies , resilience and co-operation in supply chain connectivity and encourage efforts to explore current and future initiatives toward this end as identified by Ministers .
We also endorse Phase Two of the Supply Chain Framework Action Plan ( SCFAP ) 2017-2020 and welcome the implementation of the plan next year to continue efforts to enhance trade facilitation and supply chain connectivity in the APEC region .
We recognise that energy access and energy security are critical to the shared prosperity and future of the region . We also underline the importance of stable and transparent world energy markets . We reaffirm our readiness to further energy cooperation , including areas such as renewable energy sectors and energy efficiency to create necessary conditions for trade , investment and economic growth , ensuring that all the economies of the region have access to energy .
We reaffirm our aspirational goals to reduce aggregate energy intensity by 45 % by 2035 and double renewable energy in the regional energy mix by 2030 . We reaffirm our commitment to rationalise and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies , welcome ongoing peer review and capacity building activities , and encourage further efforts to facilitate subsidy reform .
Towards Real and Functional Connectivity in the Region
We recognise that strengthened connectivity will contribute to opening up new sources of economic growth , fostering inclusive and interconnected development , advancing regional economic integration and bringing APEC economies closer as a community . In this regard , we note with appreciation that significant work has already been done by various APEC fora and working groups in advancing connectivity in the region , including providing support for enhancing subregional connectivity . However , challenges still remain .
We reaffirm , therefore , our commitment to the overarching goal of a seamlessly and comprehensively connected and integrated Asia-Pacific by 2025 , express our appreciation for the efforts and accomplishments of APEC members in implementing the APEC Connectivity Blueprint 2015-2025 , and encourage the use of policy dialogues noted in the Blueprint to exchange best practices and information on relevant topics .
We reiterate the importance of people-to-people connectivity and remain committed to its improvement through , inter alia , further development of tourism , cultural exchange , mobility of business people , cross-border education and travel facilitation .
We affirm our commitment to promote investment with a focus on infrastructure in terms of both quantity and quality . We reiterate the importance
60 VOL 69 JANUARY-MARCH 2017