APEC chairmanship spotlights Korea’s creative potential

As protectionism grows worldwide following the start of the second Donald Trump administration in the United States, some experts say the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, could serve as an alternative to uphold multilateralism. James Robinson, a University of Chicago professor and last year’s Nobel Prize winner in economics, made the remarks on Tuesday at the 32nd General Meeting of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. The meeting was held at the FKI Tower in Seoul and hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries and the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

“The recent crisis of multilateralism stems from the fundamental failure of existing systems to benefit all countries and peoples," Robinson said. "The ‘open regionalism’ principles of APEC, including voluntarism, openness, nonbinding commitments, and consensus-based cooperation, can serve as an alternative to counter the global trend toward ‘closed regionalism’ marked by declining multilateralism and rising protectionism.”

He praised APEC’s use of the term “economy” instead of “country,” which allows participation from entities such as Hong Kong that are not sovereign states. “In an era that demands more flexible identities, APEC’s approach can be a more suitable platform than the European Union for building a new ‘global architecture,’” Robinson said.

Regarding South Korea, Robinson said, “Not only in mobile phones, ships, and automobiles, but also in K-pop, ‘Squid Game,’ and K-beauty, Korea is an economically and culturally astonishingly creative society. It has the potential to lead diverse dialogues and cooperation within APEC.”

The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, which convened the meeting, serves as APEC’s think tank and official observer. This year’s meeting was held in Seoul as South Korea assumed the APEC chairmanship for the first time in 20 years. The results of the four-session meeting will be compiled into the “Yeouido Declaration” and submitted to the APEC summit in October.


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