YOKOHAMA — Pacific Rim leaders agreed Sunday in Yokohama to play a key role in forging a vast free trade agreement encompassing the thriving region based on a U.S.-backed free trade initiative and other existing regional undertakings, while adopting their first-ever common growth strategy to seek better quality of growth.
The agreement written in a declaration issued after the two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum highlighted the 21 member economies' eagerness to take concrete steps to bring "reality" to their vision to create a Free-Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, which had been considered no more than a vague concept.
Called the "Yokohama Vision," the leaders' declaration stipulates the future direction for the 21-year-old forum, which has seen progress in its past trade liberalization efforts and needs to adapt to the changing global economic landscape after the 2008 financial crisis.