Hope APEC will advance digital cross-border trade: Thai professor

At the 29th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2022, member economies issued a leaders' declaration and endorsed the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy framework. These documents underscore the members' commitment to sustainable development.

In an interview at a recent forum on low-carbon urban development, Vilas Nitivattananon, professor of School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology said that “APEC can facilitate better performance to achieve the sustainable development goals.” The Thai professor highlighted APEC’s potential to drive climate action through innovation and technology exchange among member economies.

Vilas Nitivattananon, professor of School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology. Liu Xudong

The professor specifically endorsed Shenzhen's metropolitan development model, noting it "can be a good model for megacities." He elaborated that Shenzhen's integrated approaches in "transportation, energy management, and waste management" offer directly transferable lessons for other large Asian cities. He also expressed hope that successful strategies from Shenzhen could be adapted for smaller, medium-sized cities in other countries.

Professor Nitivattananon found the low-carbon forum inspiring for fostering long-term partnerships and expressed his belief in the strong potential for ongoing regional collaboration under frameworks like APEC.