November 17, 2021
Indigenous enterprise gets APEC boost
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says by chairing this year’s Asia Pacific Economic Council meeting, New Zealand was able to push the needs of all the region’s indigenous peoples up the agenda.
The virtual conference closed on Friday, but Ms Ardern says another piece of work this year has been coordinating and drawing up APEC’s action plan for the next 20 years.
She says New Zealand made a big effort to embed sustainability and climate change, and managed to get APEC economies to commit to not growing fossil fuel subsidies.
It also pushed APEC to focus on indigenous communities.
“That hasn’t previously been a focus of APEC. Our view was we want a really inclusive recovery from Covid. The Māori economy in New Zealand is worth $70 billion, other APEC economies could benefit by highlighting and working alongside their indigenous communities and growing the economy of our indigenous communities so that is a really, really big outcome that was very much led from New Zealand,” Ms Ardern says.