On the 13th day of the Second APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and related events, two important declarations promoted by Peru for the benefit of the development of Asia-Pacific economies were approved.

The Second Senior Officials’ Meeting and related events of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, which ended in the city of Arequipa at the Cerro Juli Convention Center brought about two important declarations accepted by the 21 participant economies, which met from last May 4 to May 16.

After two years of the APEC Forum not reaching approval of statements by consensus, the APEC Peru Chair was able to get all member economies to anonimous approve the Ministerial Declaration on Women and the Economy. This document will contribute to the development of initiatives in favor of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in the Asia-Pacific region.

In a press conference in the Ciudad Blanca (White City), the Chair of the APEC Peru 2024 Senior Officials’ Meetings, Ambassador Carlos Raúl Vásquez Corrales, declared that the approval of these statements was achieved after two “very intense” weeks of work by the working groups. “I want to highlight two extremely relevant deliverables in these two weeks. The first is the Arequipa Goals, whose objective is to empower people with disabilities. This is a long-standing aspiration of the forum that has been conveyed into a concrete outcome. This statement includes specific objectives to favor empowerment, education, capacity building and social protection,” he said, informing that these statements are within the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Ambassador Vasquez also highlighted that this statement reiterates the call for economies to redouble their efforts in adopting measures that contribute to women’s economic empowerment in the Asia-Pacific region, prioritizing access to education and superior education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers, as well as addressing how gender-based violence can affect their capacity.

“It has been a very productive meeting. We have made significant progress. These are the first deliverables of APEC Peru 2024. Now we can say with great satisfaction that we are beginning to reap the benefits of all of Peru’s efforts to make the APEC year 2024 as successful as possible,” concluded the representative from Torre Tagle.