MANILA (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko – The creation of a free trade zone that would include all APEC members — Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) — is one of the main topics on the Economic Leaders' Week agenda. It is viewed as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which excludes China and Russia.
"We are really happy that last year in China the FTAAP which ABAC proposed in 2004 finally came to the fore as a path to real regional integration. This year ABAC made a study on what the next generation, FTAAP, will look like. We see the TPP, the Pacific Alliance and the RCEP as the pathways to one day having a true, very dynamic and inclusive FTAAP, so that all the peoples of the region including our country can prosper," Doris Ho, ABAC Chair, representing the Philippines, said.
Manila currently hosts the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, bringing together senior officials and businessmen from 21 Asia-Pacific economies.
