TRADE leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies have collectively agreed to expedite the movement of vaccines in the region through enhancing interdependency between the 21 economies.
New Zealand Trade and Growth Export Minister Damien O’Connor (picture), who chaired the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting 2021 on Saturday said keeping the market open and reducing trade barriers would be the priority for the economies in order to survive the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The successful distribution of vaccines across our regions will be critical to our recovery. I will be asking my fellow trade ministers how we can speed up the trade and vaccines and other residual goods needed to fight the pandemic.
“The interdependency that we have developed across APEC economies has shown incredible performance when it comes to economic output and that cooperation is desperately needed when it comes to vaccines and medical supply equipment,” he said during a virtual press conference on Saturday.
O’Connor said global cooperation is vital in rolling out the vaccines and the supportive medical equipment to ensure an economic recovery beyond Covid-19.

Vaccines can also keep everyone safe, but also enable both the economy and trade to recover, and people begin to go back to their normal life.