Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) Taiwan's contribution to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is very much appreciated and Taiwan is encouraged to keep up its engagement in APEC activities, APEC Secretariat Executive Director Colin Haseltine said Friday.
Taiwan has submitted initiatives and participated in various APEC projects over the years, said Haseltine, the 15th executive director of the APEC Secretariat for the 2007 APEC Year hosted by Australia.
"My suggestion for Chinese Taipei would be keep doing what you're doing, " he said in a round table discussion organized by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research and attended by local government officials and academics.
The Australian diplomat talked about APEC's present achievements and future prospects. What APEC has done, especially at the working group and ministerial level, has been underpublicized, underestimated and underappreciated, he said.
The leadership meeting of the heads of 21 member economies has always been the public focus, but it is lower-level meetings and projects that have made differences and promoted what APEC sets out to do -- promote fair and open trade, Haseltine said.
In the future, APEC plans to keep promoting regional economic integration and a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific region, although the latter will be difficult to accomplish, he said.
The organization will undertake internal reform to improve its efficiency and push for domestic economic structure reform among member economies as well, he said, noting that better domestic economic structures serve the interest of all APEC members.
Haseltine formerly served as head of the Australian Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei from 1992-1997.