As Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) high-level officials concluded their second series of meetings in Surabaya, East Java on Friday, the 21 members hoped the meeting would produce a number of concrete results to be brought to the summit in Bali in October.

Yuri O. Thamrin, the chairman of APEC's senior officials meeting (SOM), said that members would launch frameworks on supply-chain connectivity and investment for infrastructure development within a few weeks amid its goal to embrace regional integration and develop a sizeable number of infrastructure projects across the region.

'Connectivity will help increase the flow of goods, services and people, which in turn will accelerate economic growth and improve welfare,' he told reporters.

The framework on connectivity would ease cross-border transit, infrastructure, logistics and transportation, Yuri, who is also the Foreign Ministry's director general for Asian, African and Asia-Pacific affairs, said.

Members previously introduced a supply-chain connectivity initiative that started in 2010, trying to relieve bottlenecks hampering connectivity.

Another framework on investment of infrastructure development would identify real obstacles to the region's infrastructure development, particularly those under the public private partnership scheme, he added.

APEC members will use both frameworks as multiyear references regardless of which member chairs APEC.

The bloc has calculated that it will need around US$850 billion to build and enhance infrastructure across the Asia Pacific.

Established in 1989, APEC represents 40 percent of the world's population, 54 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 44 percent of global trade.

Tariffs between members who have agreed to open trade with each other through most-favored nation schemes have declined from an average 17 percent in 2002 to 5.8 percent in 2010. From 2007 to 2010, they managed to cut transaction costs by 5 percent, equal to US$58.7 billion for businesses. Indonesia's trade with APEC members totaled $289 billion in 2011, up 29 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 75 percent of the nation's total trade with the world.

As the chair of APEC this year, Indonesia picked regional connectivity as its crucial agenda item for discussions to peak in its summit in Bali on Oct. 7-8.

Back home, supply-chain bottlenecks include poor infrastructure, high logistical costs and regulations. In terms of logistics, for example, Indonesia's logistical fees average $36 per ton, higher than $22 per ton in the Asia Pacific area.

Yuri said, members also threw their further support to clean and renewable energy and sustainable development, apart from calling for other members to promote maritime issues and capacity building for farmers to attain food security, boost competitive edges of small and medium enterprises and strengthen women's capacity.

Indonesia has reiterated its intention to expand the list of 54 environmental goods that would be subject to a reduction of import duties by 2015 by including agricultural products, such as palm oil and natural rubber, to better accommodate interests of developing economies.

The discussion on the issue would be among the agenda that Indonesia would push ahead during the meeting of ministers responsible for trade on Saturday and Monday, said Deny Kurnia, the Trade Ministry's director for APEC and international organizations.

'We feel that the list so far favors only manufactured goods, and that's why we want to revise it this year,' he said.

During the first SOM in Jakarta, Indonesia brought the issue to the table, but did not receive warm response from other members. Since then, the government has approached several members, such as South Korea, to throw its support on its goal.

Iman Pambagyo, Trade Ministry's director general for international trade cooperation said that at the end of the meeting, the trade ministers also expected to issue leaders' statement detailing steps to help generate concrete deliverables of the ninth World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in December in Bali.

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