Ministers from 21 Pacific Rim economies pledged Monday to cooperate to support economic recovery as the region reels from the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
"We will continue to cooperate, and act swiftly to foster quality growth, safeguard the lives and livelihoods of our people to enhance the resilience of our economies and support strong and inclusive economic recovery," the ministers said in a joint statement after their teleconference.
It is the first time in three years for the ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to release a joint statement, after last year's meeting was canceled by Chile due to political unrest and the region's officials failed to agree on a statement in 2018 due to China-U.S. friction.