The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has made significant progress this year in areas of economic and technical cooperation, according to an annual report of the ECOTECH Sub-Committee.

The report provided by the APEC Secretariat said that an assessment of 148 projects within APEC shows a range of contributions to training, skills development and information sharing.

"APEC's recognition of economic and technical cooperation has been lifted this year; putting it on a par with its trade and investment liberalization and facilitation focus," said Medhi Krongkaew, chairman of the ECOTECH Sub-Committee.

Medhi said he was pleased that for the first time in APEC's history, its members had agreed this year to prepare ECOTECH Action Plans.

This development will help track individual and collective efforts by each member in the advancement of APEC's human resources development objectives, he observed.

Another major accomplishment this year, Medhi said, was the updating of Part II of the 1995 Osaka Action Agenda, which spells out the essential elements for ECOTECH: common policy concepts, joint activities and policy dialogue.

"The 2001 update ensures that the Osaka Action Agenda is perpetuated as a living document that provides a clear road map for activities that shape policy dialogues and projects," Medhi added.

ECOTECH or Economic and Technical Cooperation manages projects contributing to the six broad ECOTECH themes and is aimed at building capacity and skills, particularly in developing member economies, to enable them to advance APEC's trade and investment liberalization and facilitation (TILF), and sectoral objectives.

(Xinhua News Agency 10/19/2001)