CRI听力:APEC Slogan: Get Stuff Done

Trade and foreign ministers of the 21 APEC member states sit down for the APEC Ministers' Meeting Friday, for what is expected to be an active discussion to produce significant results for the upcoming Leaders' Meeting. The ongoing Ministers' Meeting is co-hosted by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi are among the attendees.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the senior officials have a formidable agenda to discuss.

"Global trends and world events have given us a full and formidable agenda, and the stakes are high for all of us. To accomplish these goals, we have to create a rules-based system that is open, free, transparent and fair. Working to make that system a reality has been a focus of all of our meetings this year. "

Clinton says tangible progress has been made in three areas, which are the main subjects of this year's APEC meetings.

"First, integrating market and expanding trade. Second, promoting green growth. Third, deepening our regulatory cooperation and convergence."

US Secretary Hillary Clinton labels these issues as "next-generation issues", and says the US hopes practical approaches could be made to address these issues.

"We even created an unofficial slogan, Get stuff done."

To be specific, Clinton says the US looks to address tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services; adopt policies that promote effective innovation by encouraging competition and open markets; and improve the quality of regulatory systems and better align regulatory approaches. Ministers are deliberating on these issues, giving their input to discussion.

Meanwhile, at a separate venue, business leaders are holding the APEC CEO summit, advising the APEC summit that a "volatile and uncertain economic environment" was discouraging private-sector investment and could spawn protectionist sentiment.

In a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, who will arrives for the Honolulu talks late on Friday, CEOs called on governments "to liaise closely with business as we work together to stimulate economic growth and create jobs in the short term, and work toward balanced growth in the long term."

I'll keep you updated on the two events.

For CRI, this is Wang Shanshan from Honolulu, Hawaii.