Russia's 2012 chairmanship in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will promote the domestic economy organic integration into the system of economic ties in the Asia Pacific Region (APR) in the interests of modernization- and innovation-driven economic development, primarily in Siberia and the Russian Far East.
As APEC chair, Russia intends to make an important contribution to achieving the forum's objectives, including trade and investment liberalization, facilitating business, intensifying regional economic integration, and ensuring personal security. Russia also plans to propose that its partners focus on such practical issues as bolstering food security, improving transport and logistics systems, and cooperating in the interests of modernization.
Russia considers the main elements of APEC's work on food security to be achieving and maintaining physical and economic access to food products, ensuring international standards of quality and safety, promoting increased food production through the introduction of innovative technologies, and promptly identifying and preventing threats to agriculture, including those related to climate change and emergencies, whether natural or man-made. Russia also sees promise in establishing cooperation in the protection and rational use of the biological resources of the world ocean.
Making commodities less costly and enhancing the reliability of their movement along the entire logistic chain, from producer to consumer, is a key factor in international trade. This involves forming economically viable and secure commodity supply chains, coordinating various types of transport, providing transport hubs and corridors with state-of-the-art information technology and satellite navigation systems, and harmonizing transportation security standards.
Cooperation on modernization is in the interests of all APEC member economies. First and foremost, this involves initiating the exchange of advanced know-how on how to shape a favorable institutional environment for innovative development and creating regional cooperation mechanisms in science, technology and innovation.