APEC Recovery Gameplan Beyond Trade And Investments

Amidst uncertainties that the pandemic COVID-19 has brought upon the entire global citizens, one thing is for sure, economic activities need to resume operations to safeguard the future of business owners.

The COVID-19 pandemic if anything has emphasised the need for stronger collaboration in creating a more resilient Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region that can overcome the impact of pandemic, speed up economic recovery and to be better prepared for future global crisis.

In doing this, member economies need to be able to adapt to the changes and accelerate more collaborations to work on common priorities and exchange in best practices to new find solutions to new challenges ahead.

While leaders, industry captains and experts continue to push for better economic cooperation, elimination of trade barriers, cross border movements, safety and other plans that would help pave the way for a smoother post COVID-19 recovery effort, it is crucial for the outcome of APEC’s high-level discussions to be shared at the grassroot level.

In line with the APEC 2020 theme ‘Optimising Human Potential towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity’, here are some of the areas crucial to rebuild the region’s economy, in a more sustainable and inclusive way.

DIGITAL ECONOMY

Some of the valuable lessons that COVID-19 has taught us would be on the importance of digital transformation for business survival. As social distancing becomes the new norm, much of interactions with customers and employees are taking place virtually.

Having a digital platform is becoming an increasingly important tool to stay in business, especially now following the Conditional Movement Control Order imposed. While talk on digital economy isn’t new; the pandemic has served as the push factor to accelerate the shift towards digitalising businesses.