In first joint statement since 2017, APEC leaders, including Trump, agree on free tradebusinessUpdated: Nov 21, 2020, 11:47 ISTLeaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, including US President Donald Trump, have pledged to work toward free, open and non-discriminatory trade and investment to revive their coronavirus-battered economies. The APEC leaders’ meeting was the first since 2018 after last year’s host, Chile, cancelled the annual summit due to violent domestic protests. But at the Papua New Guinea summit in 2018, APEC leaders failed to issue a joint statement for the first time amid a US-China row over trade policies. Xi’s comments came just after Beijing and 14 Asian nations inked the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world’s largest free trade agreement. APEC leaders adopted the Putrajaya Vision 2040, a new 20-year growth vision to replace the Bogor Goals named after the Indonesian town where leaders agreed in 1994 to free and open trade and investment.

Source: Hindustan Times November 21, 2020 06:18 UTC