Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is urging Asian business and political leaders to do more to counter the economic headwinds confronting developing countries by dismantling barriers to trade and investment.
Yudhoyono told a regional summit that as advanced economies are gaining speed, emerging economies are slowing, dogged in some cases by trade deficits, capital flight and weakening currencies.
“The advanced economies are experiencing recovery and showing faster growth while emerging economies ... are facing a slowdown,” he said at the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held amid tight security on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
“APEC is in the ideal position to help the recovery of the global economy,” said Yudhoyono, emphasizing the importance of preventing protectionism and opening markets further to maximize prosperity.
Reductions in tariffs over the past 25 years have yielded nearly $59 billion (HK$457.5 billion) in savings for businesses, said Yudhoyono, whose own country is struggling not to lose gains that have made the world’s largest Muslim country a rising economic power in the region.
Yudhoyono said Indonesia’s recent troubles with a weakening currency and inflation were transient.