BANGKOK, Nov. 18 (PNA/Xinhua) — The Asia-Pacific region needs to make its trade and investment activities more inclusive so as to generate common growth and shared prosperity, a United Nations report has said.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), one of the UN’s regional development arms, officially launched the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2013 in its headquarters in Bangkok on Monday.
The report, entitled “Turning the Tide: Towards Inclusive Trade and Investment”, noted that while the Asia-Pacific region continues to outperform the rest of the world in its pace of overall growth, the strong trade and investment-led expansion, which continues to feed the region’s economic dynamism, has been accompanied by rising inequalities.
Speaking at the report launch, Ravi Ratnayake, Director of ESCAP’s Trade and Investment Division said it is prime time to charge trade- and investment-led growth with delivering benefits for all and reducing vulnerability amongst the poorest, to turn the tide towards inclusive trade and investment.
“Focusing primarily on the role of trade and investment in increasing overall growth, and considering distributional issues as secondary, has not produced inclusive societies,” he said.
The UN expert said inclusiveness implies that all people can participate in and benefit from the trade and investment activities conducted in the region.
Moreover, the report cautioned that the Asia-Pacific region needs to learn to live and prosper without strong external demand in face of the current global economic recession.
It estimates that merchandise exports and imports of the region will see growth below 6 percent in real terms in 2013 and a modest improvement to 7 percent in 2014.
On the investment front, the report said the Asia-Pacific region continues to be a leading investment destination as its developing economies account for 33 percent of global FDI inflows in 2012.
It said that intra-regional FDI are replacing those from developed countries, with China and ASEAN becoming the most attractive destinations within the region. (PNA/Xinhua)