KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's spot in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has been further boosted with the reappointment of Tan Sri Dr Rebecca Sta Maria as executive director of APEC's Secretariat.
The former secretary-general of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) who oversaw the formulation and implementation of Malaysia's trade policies and positions, will continue her stint in Singapore where she has been based since 2019.
The decision on Sta Maria's reappointment was announced this week, on the heels of the APEC Economic Leaders' Week hosted by New Zealand, APEC said in a statement.
"Dr Sta Maria's second term of office will start on Jan 1, 2022 and will run for three years," it said.
"Dr Sta Maria's leadership has been critical in guiding the APEC Secretariat through the most challenging global crisis where support for the institution, host and member economies in navigating the region's work and priorities remain as strong as ever," the chairperson of 2021 APEC Senior Officials, Vangelis Vitalis, said.
Since 2019, Sta Maria has worked on advancing the implementation of APEC member economies' priorities during the host years of Chile; Malaysia; and New Zealand.
This includes administering APEC projects undertaken by member-economy officials under working-level APEC fora and which put the policy directives of the region's leaders and ministers into action, APEC noted.
"Her administration emphasises on improving the bandwidth of APEC's diverse membership to liberalise and facilitate trade and investment, realise greater regional economic integration."
APEC members fund around 100 projects annually to bridge knowledge and resource gaps between them and achieve common policy objectives, coming in the form of technical workshops and information-sharing dialogues, training sessions and policy research.
Over 2,700 projects have been undertaken since APEC initiated project work and founded a Secretariat in 1993.
"Cooperation between member economies plays a significant role in overcoming a crisis such as Covid-19," Sta Maria said.
She remarked that the pandemic made it clear that none of the member countries could go at it alone.
"Strengthening the team of diplomats, experts and professionals at the Secretariat is crucial as we continue to advance multilateral cooperation for a more inclusive and sustainable future," she added.
During her tenure as MITI secretary-general from 2010 to 2016, Sta Maria led Malaysia's negotiations for the regional trade agreement known now as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The statement said that Sta Maria's second three-year term, will include the APEC host year of Thailand in 2022.
"Offers for the United States to host in 2023 and Peru in 2024 were welcomed by New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who chaired the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting on Nov 12," it added.
