APEC flags. File photoBANGKOK, Aug 31Despite the attacks of Western countries on Russia, the third meeting of senior officials (SOM) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was quite successful, Kirill, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russia's senior official in APEC Barsky.Thailand in 2022 will carry out the transitional chairmanship of APEC and host all the events of the forum, including the main event of the year — the APEC Economic Leaders Summit, which will be held in November in Bangkok. The third «cluster of events» of senior officials of the APEC economies was held from mid-August in the «northern capital» of Thailand, the city of Chiang Mai, and ended on Wednesday. According to the Thai Chairmanship, in total, during the «cluster» in Chiang Mai, 67 events of the APEC structure were held, the main of which was the third meeting of senior officials of the forum, which took place on August 28-31. We assess the meeting as successful. and I must say that we assess this meeting as a success,” Barsky told the agency.The Ambassador to Thailand spoke about the attempts to impose Ukraine on the APEC ministers noted that the meeting summed up the interim results of Thailand's chairmanship in APEC, allowed to discuss a wide range of issues on the agenda of the forum and actually pave the way to the meeting of APEC leaders, scheduled for November 18-19 this year in Bangkok. «The result of our work was the adoption of the reports of the main working bodies of APEC — the Committee on Investment and Trade, the Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation and the Economic Committee,» — said the head of the Russian delegation at the meeting of the APEC SAO. Thailand Biocircular Green Economy Project supported by all delegations. In addition, Barsky continued, within the framework of the meeting, the Thai side held a special event dedicated to discussing the project of the so-called biocircular green economy. economic development of the Asia-Pacific region, taking into account the factors of climate change, the need to give priority to environmental protection, the use of modern technologies, primarily digital, in ensuring socio-economic development with an obligatory element of taking into account the needs of the most diverse population groups that cannot be left «overboard,» he said.Reshetnikov spoke about an attempt to politicize the APEC ministerial forum «The model proposed by Thailand was supported by all delegations, and the Thai partners plan to prepare a separate document on this topic and adopt it at the meeting of APEC leaders: «Bangkok goals for a green biocircular economy.» In fact, the draft joint statement is already is ready,» Barsky specified, adding that during the remaining two and a half months before the leadership forum, delegations from APEC economies will regularly meet online and discuss this project, as well as the draft of the traditional joint declaration of leaders, which the Thai side promised to circulate at the very The delegations discussed the role of APEC in the face of unprecedented challenges «Naturally, we assessed how our forum is developing and what role it can play in the current conditions of unprecedented challenges — international tension, slowdown in global economic growth and aggravation of the energy and food and other crises. It is also natural that these assessments and approaches to the development of the forum, despite the general desire to strengthen APEC as a unique institution of multilateral diplomacy, also differed,” Barsky shared. in the current situation, it is necessary to put aside contradictions, unite and establish constructive cooperation so that APEC can fully reveal its role as an incubator of ideas and a laboratory for developing recommendations to its governments, and contribute to solving the pressing problems of the Asia-Pacific region.
The Rada called Russophobia the only possible policy for Ukraine «This is, first of all, countering the crisis, post-pandemic economic recovery, further liberalization of trade, ensuring sustainable development, strengthening interconnectedness,» he explained. Politicization of the forum and the APEC structure is unacceptable. «Unfortunately, not everything is going well here. In recent months, we have seen the desire of the United States and a number of other APEC member economies to politicize our forum,» the head of the Russian delegation said. unfounded wording containing accusations against a number of APEC economies in things that have nothing to do with the Asia-Pacific region, the APEC agenda, and are generally completely far-fetched or frankly false, said Barsky. positions of the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand regarding the conflict in Ukraine and their persistent desire to blame the Russian Federation for allegedly causing all the problems in the world economy and the economy of the Asia-Pacific region,» he stressed.
American economist: US ignored Putin's main warning chain,» the head of the Russian delegation said at the APEC SAO meeting, adding that, in addition, APEC has an agreement that this is an economic forum, and political and security issues are not discussed at it. «Therefore, the Russian side, with the support of China and a number of other delegations consistently categorically oppose such fabrications, as well as topics that go beyond the geography and agenda of our forum, to be heard at our meetings, all the more included in official documents,» he added. Barsky noted that The United States and its allies remain deaf to the voice of reason.» As a result Because of such an unconstructive position, we have lost the opportunity to adopt consensus statements at the ministerial level. Five APEC ministerial meetings have already ended without the adoption of agreed final documents. Instead, the results of these events were summed up by the Thai side itself in the statements of the chairman, which, of course, is also not bad, but does not paint our forum, where we have always found an opportunity to negotiate with each other, and most importantly, it limits its possibilities,” he said. Nevertheless, the Russian diplomat continued, there is some optimism that all APEC participants at the current SAO meeting spoke in favor of the development and approval by the leaders of the countries in November this year in Bangkok of consensus documents.
The Prime Minister of Cambodia spoke about the difficulties in adopting the final documents of ASEAN «Let's see if this can be achieved. In any case, the Russian side, as before, will stand for the most constructive cooperation, will support the Thai chairmanship, which we value very highly, and will seek to so that APEC remains depoliticized, purely economic, effectively solving specific problems, a useful multilateral forum with great unifying potential,» the head of the Russian delegation noted. He also stressed that the Thai side did everything in its power to make the meeting in Chiang Mai a success. «The Chairmanship showed its best qualities, perfectly organized the meeting, and also showed great concern for the guests, giving senior officials the opportunity not only to do a good job, but also to get acquainted with the wonderful Chiang Mai, its history and culture,» Barsky said. The next, fourth and last in this In 2019, the SAO will meet in Bangkok on the eve of the APEC leadership summit in mid-November.
