BEPPU, Oita Pref. (Kyodo) Pacific Rim economies agreed at a high-level meeting Sunday on the need to improve the region's "quality of growth" through a growth strategy to encourage job creation, the development of smaller businesses and structural reforms.
The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which held a two-day meeting from Saturday to specifically discuss the envisioned long-term comprehensive strategy, also reached a consensus to report on the progress of the strategy's implementation in 2015.
"As the world's leading growth center, the APEC region has a great responsibility for the future course of the global economy . . . APEC should contribute to improving the quality of growth in the global economy," said the chair's statement issued at the end of the APEC Growth Strategy High-Level Policy Round Table in Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan.