A junior high-school student receives a dose of the Sinovac vaccine at a vaccination drive in Blang Bintang, Aceh Province, Indonesia on Tuesday. The total COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia has reached more than 100 million doses as of Tuesday. Photo: AFP

 Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) agreed to strongly support equitable access to quality-assured and affordable COVID-19 vaccines and vowed to work on resilient supply chains and economic integration in the region to respond to the pandemic.

A joint statement by the APEC leaders following their meeting in New Zealand (with some delivered virtual speeches) was published on Friday. It put vaccine access as the priority. 

"Because nobody is safe until everyone is safe, we are determined to ensure extensive immunisation of our people against COVID-19 as a global public good. It remains a priority that we expand vaccine manufacture and supply," read the statement. 

Such supports include the voluntary transfer of vaccine production technologies on mutually agreed terms and trade facilitation in vaccines and related essential medical products. 

While tackling with the access to vaccines, the leaders figured out that trade and investment is a critical enabler for addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring APEC's 21 economies could recover stronger. 

The region's economic integration will be advanced in a manner that is market-driven, they said. "We support ongoing efforts to conclude, ratify, implement and upgrade trade agreements in the region that benefit our people and our businesses."

"Trade should be a pillar for the development and future prosperity of all our people. At this time of extraordinary disruption, the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core, can play an important role in economic recovery," said the joint statement. 

The leaders also pledged to leverage APEC's role as an incubator of ideas and capacity building to tackle climate change as the need for urgent and concrete action to transition to a climate-resilient future global economy is imperative. 

On Friday, the leaders endorsed the Aotearoa Plan of Action, key to implementing the Putrajaya Vision 2040 which will guide APEC's work for the next 20 years. 

Global Times