Trade liberalisation is a key endorsement by member economies in the APEC Business Advisory Council, or ABAC.
ABAC PNG Chair, David Toua, said this agenda will be pushed in the Leaders’ Summit in November.
This call was further pushed during the 3rd ABAC Meeting in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Toua said during the 3rd ABAC meeting, business leaders expressed concern about the current unstable global trade and economic environment.
He said there is a general consensus that with the current environment, aided by protectionism, this would hinder prosperity for economies.
“There’s a very strong message by ABAC this year. We don’t like protectionism. Protectionism is the current conversation between a lot of the larger economies and ABAC is quite strongly saying, there are storm clouds, there are turbulent times (and) we must be clear in businesses message to leaders, that protectionism is no good for business,” said Toua.
Toua said trade barriers hinder job creation, particularly in SMEs. He added PNG can be brought forward through the SME sector.
“90 percent of this population is not involved in the economy, and MSMEs is one way to bring a lot of our population into the economy.”
Meanwhile, ABAC PNG is preparing to host four major events before the APEC CEO Summit in November.
They include the Food Security Summit MSME Innovation Summit, Resource Industry Development Summit and the 4th ABAC Meeting.
(ABAC PNG Chair, David Toua – Picture: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)