By KYIV. Nov 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), which, in particular, includes Russia, China and the United States, concluded the current summit in San Francisco with a joint statement that did not reference the Russian war against Ukraine and military operations in the Sector Gaza, the EFE news agency said.
“The leaders of the 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), which includes Russia, China and the United States, concluded their summit this Friday in San Francisco with a joint statement that did not reference the wars in Ukraine or Gaza,” according to the post on the agency’s website Saturday.
As noted in the report, the text, agreed upon by all the members, was a departure from that agreed upon at last year’s edition in Bangkok, Thailand, where the “majority” of the members condemned Russian “aggression” against Ukraine, demanded its withdrawal from Ukraine, and mentioned the invasion’s effects on the world’s economy.
“Separately Friday, the United States released a statement about Ukraine and Gaza, explaining that ‘some leaders’ had objected to the inclusion of this language in the joint text. The text published by the America chair of APEC is very similar to that from Bangkok and uses the same expressions to affirm that ‘the majority’ of the members of this forum condemn the aggression against Ukraine,” according to the statement.
“The fact that a consensus was not been achieved is a setback for the Biden government, which in its statement acknowledged that some countries did not want to include these references to Ukraine and Gaza ‘on the basis that they do not believe that APEC is a forum to discuss geopolitical issues,” EFE believes.
As noted in the EFE material, “instead of mentioning Ukraine and Gaza, the leaders used their declaration to move towards sustainable and inclusive policies to battle climate change and, at the same time, foster a ‘transparent, inclusive’ business environment for the region’s economies.”
APEC was created in 1989 to promote free trade among its members.
APEC groups 21 territories in Asia and America: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
