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Trudeau arrives in Thailand to focus on expanding Canada's trade with the Indian and Pacific Oceans

Trudeau arrives in Thailand to focus on expanding Canada's trade with the Indian and Pacific Oceans

By Omayma othmani

Published: November 17, 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Thailand to hold meetings aimed at expanding Canada's trade with the Indo-Pacific region.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is a group of 21 economies on both sides of the Pacific Ocean working together to break down trade barriers.

Trudeau is also attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' meeting on Thursday and Friday, in a one-night stop in Bangkok, which is expected to result in meetings with government leaders and businessmen.

Also, Jeff Nankivell, CEO of the Canadian Asia-Pacific Foundation, said: "What can be achieved at a meeting like this will inevitably be affected by geopolitical factors," adding that the question will be: "Is it possible to reach a consensus on the outcome documents in the current geopolitical context?"

Instead of listing countries as members, the APEC group consists of 21 economies including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which is under Chinese control, and Taiwan, which some countries - including China - do not recognize as a state.

Similarly, the organization features a series of technical committees and working groups that advise policy leaders on how to make business flows smoother between different countries, such as standardizing how transactions are documented or setting rules regarding data privacy and digital trade.

Rather than negotiating policy or signing agreements, the group aims to come up with proposals on how to boost economic growth and ensure that different sectors are in regular dialogue.

In the same context, Andrew Cooper, a professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo, said the forum looms large for think tanks and business chambers, but not for the general public. He said, "There is a lot of technical legal-type work. That is important, but it will not attract much public attention."

While the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation has paved the way for globalization and helped countries work out the finer details of routine, it has been less able to shape broader regional priorities.

Additionally, Trudeau is attending the leaders' meeting ahead of his government's rollout of a larger strategy for the Indo-Pacific region. But Cooper said governments have struggled to use the APEC forum to identify which countries to focus on, or to push for specific economic policies. He said: "Is this really a strategy with some weight? I mean, we've seen a lot of false starts to the Indo-Pacific strategy, especially through APEC, from the beginning."

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the meeting, while Russia is expected to send its Deputy Prime Minister, Andrey Belousov.

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