World leaders’ goal in ASEAN Summit

DA NANG, Vietnam – Pacific Rim leaders are expected to take bolder steps to deepen regional economic integration and ensure sustainable, innovative, and inclusive growth during their summit this week.

Leaders from 21-member AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation gather today for the two-day summit talks in this coastal resort city.

“Being an economic cooperation organization, one of the key themes is deepening regional integration,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee said in a recent media interview here.

“As the leaders gather in the wake of global economic recovery, it is very important that leaders to continue to dialogue and cooperate to ensure that this global economic recovery continues. There are continued risks and one of themes is the discussions on how we can continue the economic growth,” he added.

Teehankee said APEC leaders are also expected to discuss measures on how to ensure development will benefit everyone in the face of globalization. He said the “promotion of sustainable, innovative, and inclusive growth” is another important theme of the APEC leaders’ discussions. “Globalization has often been mentioned leading to winners and losers and there is the question of how to move forward and ensure that globalization results in benefits for all,” Teehankee said.