Deviating from their traditional focus on high economic growth, APEC leaders recently agreed to promote a "balanced, inclusive and sustainable economic growth" as they concluded their meeting here Sunday.
However, the leaders from the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states failed to include a clear agenda to push for a concrete outcome for a climate change deal in Copenhagen, one month from now, with no target for emissions reductions mentioned in their statement.
In their joint statement, the leaders said they looked beyond the global economic recovery while recognizing the necessity to develop a new paradigm for a changed post-crisis landscape and an expanded trade and investment agenda that will strengthen regional economic integration.
"We can't go back to growth as usual. We will put in place a strategy that supports more balanced growth within and across economies, achieves greater inclusiveness in our societies and sustains our environment," the statement read.
In achieving balanced growth, the leaders agreed to make their fiscal, monetary, trade and structural policies consistent with a more sustainable and balanced economic growth.
They also committed to strengthening the environment for private enterprises, investment and innovation, while developing financial markets to better serve the real economy.
To achieve inclusive growth, the leaders agreed to broaden access to economic opportunities and to build the resilience of the most vulnerable against economic shocks.
"We will help small and medium enterprises and women entrepreneurs to gain better access to global markets and finance," leaders said.
The leaders also agreed to design social safety nets that provide short-term support, but avoid long-term dependency. For a sustainable growth, they said economic growth in the future must be compatible with global efforts to protect the environment and mitigate climate change.
Before an audience of hundreds of business leaders, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in his speech that he supported the new paradigm of balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth, with governments protecting the weak who were most affected by globalization.
"We must also recognize that cries for protection are linked to addressing anxieties of groups and sectors most affected. We also have to deal with the reality that many countries are facing high unemployment," he said.
Despite their commitments to a new growth paradigm, the leaders failed to include any targets on carbon emissions cuts after they dropped an earlier draft of the statement requiring APEC countries to cut their carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.
In the final statement, leaders committed only to working toward an "ambitious outcome" at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month. Such a statement would give breathing space for the US Senate to pass carbon-capping legislation.
During their meeting, APEC leaders agreed to delaying signing a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen until the US was ready with its climate law, which is expected to be passed in the Senate early next year.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen flew to Singapore to lobby APEC leaders to support the Copenhagen talks.
"Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries, we must, in the coming weeks, focus on what is possible and not let ourselves be distracted by what is not possible," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said to the leaders, as quoted by Reuters.
"The Copenhagen Agreement should finally mandate continued legal negotiations and set a deadline for their conclusion," said the Copenhagen talks host, who flew to Singapore overnight to lay out his proposal over breakfast at an Asia-Pacific summit.
Rasmussen's plan would pave the way for a political accord at the Dec. 7-18 talks, followed by tortuous haggling over legally binding commitments on targets, finance and technology transfer on a slower track, though still with a deadline.
