21 NOVEMBER 2008 - The Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the commitment of Ministers at the 20th APEC Ministerial Meeting in Lima to free and open trade and investment. Today's joint statement emphasised that this commitment is doubly important as a response to the global financial crisis.

"It is particularly important for the world economy that countries remain open in this time of crisis and businesses will be very pleased that APEC Ministers have recognised this today," said Chamber CEO Charles Finny.

"APEC's primary purpose must be to free up trade and investment within the Asia Pacific region but it has sometimes been distracted from this objective.

"Now more than ever, governments need to publicly articulate the need for freer trade and economic openess.

"Ministers also provided strong support for a prompt and successful conclusion to the WTO Doha Development and we hope that today's statement will provide impetus for that.

"We congratulate Foreign Minister McCully and Trade Minister Groser for their input into the statement and we look forward to the leaders' declaration in the coming days," Mr Finny concluded.