core sector communique

Asia-Pacific Region Key to Global Economic Recovery

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.

Staff Writer

Washington - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says that the debt crisis confronting the nations of Europe remains the central challenge to global economic growth.

"It is crucial that Europe move quickly to put in place a strong plan to restore financial stability," Geithner said at a November 10 press conference after a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation finance ministers in advance of the APEC Leaders' Meeting scheduled to begin November 12 in Honolulu.

"We are all directly affected by the crisis in Europe, but the economies gathered here are in a better position than most to take steps to strengthen growth in the face of these pressures from Europe," he added.

The focus of the 21 APEC finance ministers was on how to help strengthen growth around the world and make it more balanced and sustainable in the future, he said. The annual APEC Leaders' Meeting is being hosted by President Obama in his native Hawaii November 12-13.

Geithner said the APEC finance ministers concentrated on making progress in a number of areas:

.. While the United States continues to work through its economic recovery period and as Europe confronts a period slower growth, the Asian economies will need to do more to stimulate broader domestic demand to make their economies less vulnerable to slowdowns.

.. Continue the process of rebalancing economies, aided by exchange-rate policies that allow Asian currencies to adjust in response to financial market forces.

.. Continue progress toward global financial reforms and build a level plain for commerce and trade and to lessen the chances of risk-taking in financial markets.

.. Continue practical, direct measures for boosting future growth in all of the APEC economies, focusing on the role of infrastructure investment as a way to boost growth and employment; and

.. Continue to protect the poor and promote financial resilience as the APEC economies have taken steps to expand the reach of safe and reliable financial services.

"While APEC economies are the most vulnerable to a global slowdown, they can also play the greatest role in contributing to the global recovery and establishing the foundations of strong, sustainable, and balanced future growth," Geithner told reporters. "The APEC economies account for more than half of global GDP [gross domestic product]."

Geithner acknowledged that the region's capacity for growth is essential to the overall prosperity of the United States, and that is part of reason the United States is committed to continued engagement with the Pacific Rim economies.

"APEC economies are the destination for 60 percent of U.S. exports, a figure that is likely to continue increasing," he said. "U.S. exports overall increased 15.9 percent over the past year. Our exports are growing at a rate nearly four times faster than our overall economy, further underscoring the importance of the Pacific Rim to American jobs and global growth."

Geithner said that as APEC economies grow, and as they move to expand domestic demand for goods and services produced by the United States, the importance of the U.S. relationship to those economies will only grow stronger and deepen.

The United States recently ratified trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, and it is making substantial progress toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership with nine countries, which will increase U.S. trade with "the most dynamic economies of the Pacific Rim," Geithner said. This is essential to helping achieve the overall objectives set by President Obama in his National Export Initiative to double U.S. exports by 2015, he said.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)