Events
APEC Joint (EC), (GOS) and (DESG) Dialogue on Structural Reform and Services
EVENT VIDEOS
FULL VIDEO
Opening Remarks (Palm Springs)
The Convenor of the GOS and the Chair of the Economic Committee record their understanding of the linkages between services and structural and remind participants of the expectations of APEC Ministers of progress on these linkages at the APEC-wide and economy levels.
Session 1 - Services competitiveness
Jane Drake-Brockman presents a keynote speech on the role of a competitive services sector in meeting the region’s current challenges, stressing the links of policy change in services to the structural reform agenda, and to issues in digitalization, as well as outlining the value of cooperation in APEC.
Session 2 - Best practices and principles for reform
Speakers refer to principles for services reform, and to experiences in their applications. Particularly tools are also reviewed. As well as presentation of experiences of individual economies (Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand), other speakers include Bernard Hoekman on designing regulatory reform for services. There follow presentations from a business perspective, from the experience of ASEAN in work on good regulatory practice and the outcomes in the WTO on services domestic regulation.
Session 3 - Digital Services
Digital services can improve efficiency and productivity by complementing existing services and by reimagining their delivery. They can also lead to new business opportunities. Digital services proved relatively resilient in the pandemic and are crucial for productivity and growth. Previous work has identified several drivers of success in advancing digital services and the work on services and structural reform aims to elaborate on them with attention to the overall regulatory environment and its openness, the role of the entrepreneurial eco system, the value of removing barriers to inclusion and competition policy. Speakers in this session refer to the success story of the Philippines, the ITU’s work on institutional frameworks that support the ICT sector, as well as topic related to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, to inclusion, to competition policy and to digital standards.
Learning
