A Ukrainian army Grad multiple rocket launcher fires rockets at Russian positions in the frontline near Soledar, Donetsk region. Photo / AP
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, friction between the United States and China, political unrest in Peru — not to mention the very real matter of combating the climate crisis — are all issues that Matt Murray must navigate as the US senior official for Apec in 2023.
In Auckland this week for this year’s first gathering of the Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac), where New Zealand played host, Murray spent much of his time sheltering from the cyclone at the Cordis Hotel, where he took part in multiple meetings.
“I’ve already heard it mentioned several times in the last couple of days that we’re experiencing a cyclone right now and the effects of climate change are very real,” he told the Weekend Herald on Monday. “It will have a huge potential impact on economics and trade.”
Murray was here to relay the message that the US is committed to being a “good steward” of Apec, outline projected deliverables for the US host year and build a constituency for progress — all items of high relevance to New Zealand.
Formed in 1989, Apec has grown to become a dynamic engine of economic growth — an important regional forum where New Zealand can exert political and economic influence on Asia-Pacific dynamics, particularly when it comes to the rules that underpin commerce, way beyond this country’s size.
More than 70 per cent of New Zealand trade is conducted with the 21 Apec member economies, 14 of our top export markets are Apec members including the world’s three largest economies: the US, China and Japan.
Conversation around the fringes of this week’s Abac meeting suggests that 2023 will be another crucial year for Apec.
Not only are there the geopolitical challenges, which Murray plans to navigate by focusing on the “c” in Apec — co-operation. But moving the Apec economic agenda forward and avoiding stasis is no simple matter.
The 2019 Apec was cancelled due to political unrest in Chile. New Zealand picked up the baton in 2021 and forged the Aotearoa Action Plan (APA), which sets deliverables out to 2040, despite having to hold the host year’s rounds of meetings virtually because of the Covid pandemic, as did Malaysia in 2020. Thailand picked up the ball last year, holding the first person-to-person meeting since 2018. Now it is the United States’ turn, with multiple meetings of officials, business people, trade, finance and foreign ministers to take place ahead of Apec Leaders week, which gets under way in San Francisco on November 12.
“We’re grateful to New Zealand and particular with the groundwork you laid here in 2021 with the APA,” said Murray. “I’ve told my New Zealand counterparts many times, if you’re a new host, and particularly if you are hosting on short notice, being able to walk into all these other agencies around the government and the private sector and stakeholders and say that ‘this is the APA and this is what we are supposed to do in Apec’, I think has been extraordinarily helpful.”
The theme the United States has chosen for its host year is “creating a resilient sustainable future for all”.
“So, whether you are talking about sustainable and inclusive trade or whether you are talking about some of the very real energy objectives we want to try to advance, or transportation, food security and support for small to medium-sized enterprises, there’s a lot of focus on sustainability and inclusion,” said Murray.
“So, that is the first piece that we will really focus on.”
He related other priorities including the digital economy, which is changing rapidly around the region — “there are different views on what a healthy digital economy looks like” — and how to ensure the region becomes more economically resilient coming out of Covid and can respond better next time there is great disruption such as a pandemic.
“If there is one thing, we learned from Covid, it is there are a lot of factors we need to be concerned about with trade. Supply chain resiliency and being able to make sure that we are putting trade on a more sustainable footing and making sure that everyone is able to enjoy the benefits of trade.”
The US is looking to hold a sustainability business forum later in the year. While the format has yet to be determined, Murray said they are trying to solicit input from the business sector on how to evolve a goal from that and how the US can drive its host year forward by adopting it as a possible end goal. “It would be the first time we had something like that that would be focused on sustainability. It may be something that during the year we can work with Abac and other private sector actors to come up with very specific outcomes that that forum can drive.”
Then there are the inevitable challenges from geopolitics.
The White House has assigned Mike Pyle to chair the overall senior officials’ meetings (Soms) this year. Pyle was formerly BlackRock’s chief global investment strategist before joining the Biden Administration.
The first Som meeting is now under way in Palm Springs.
Murray acknowledges Russia’s involvement presents a huge challenge; the Ukraine invasion happened during the first Som meeting in 2022.
“We just kept making the point, and other economies kept making the point, it really couldn’t be business as usual with Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.
“By the time leaders week happened last year in Thailand, economies were all very much in agreement on this and really put pressure on Russia to agree to a consensus leaders’ and ministerial statement — the first consensus statement we had for the year in addition to the Bangkok goals.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the leaders meeting, which closed with a declaration virtually echoing a G20 declaration which said members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine, stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.
“There’s certainly those around Apec who would at times say this is politicising issues,” said Murray. “But I don’t hear so much of that anymore.
“I hear the concerns around food security, concerns around energy, concerns about macro-economic stability — those are the things I really hear about when Russia is being discussed.”
The Russians have been invited to Palm Springs, but there was no representation at the Auckland meeting.
Murray conceded openly that while the United States has been focused on being a good steward of Apec, there are always questions about which direction the host is going to take, “how we might use it for our own domestic political objective”.
He’s taken his cue from Vangelis Vitalis, who chaired the Apec senior officials’ meetings in New Zealand’s host year and he acknowledges as a mentor.
“I’ve told Vangelis this story before. When I first started in this role, I listened to a podcast that he gave at the end of the New Zealand host year, and I was really struck by how he talked about that ‘Look, Apec is really not a place for the US and China to complain about everything. It’s a place where we need to come together to co-operate’.
“I really took that to heart when I started in this job.”
Murray said the US has also tried to have constructive conversations with China. “What we have tried to say to our Chinese counterparts is that we want to try and find areas where we can do the ‘c’ in Apec — the co-operation bit.
“But also, when there are times where we are going to push back on China, it’s because we feel like what they are doing and saying in Apec is undermining international rules or standards.
“We also want to make clear to our other partners around Apec that when we disagree with China, it’s not a kneejerk disagreement. It’s more of a considered position.
“I think if we can continue to do that and keep our lines of communication open to our Chinese counterparts, I am hopeful we can have some constructive outcomes.
“It is a challenge and it has ebbs and flows to it.”
Then there is Peru, which is slated as the 2024 Apec host.
The Latin American country is locked in a crisis with no clear way out.
Nearly 60 people are reported to have died and more than 1200 have been injured during protests that began after the December ouster of President Pedro Castillo, who had tried to disband Congress as lawmakers voted to impeach him.
“One of the things we really developed last year was this troika concept where we are working closely with the previous host Thailand and now the future host Peru.
“I am very impressed with the commitment of their Apec team in wanting to have a successful year.
“They’ve got a lot of really good ideas and have been working on it for a long time.”
Murray said he hopes the disruptions can settle down to the point where the US can have a good handoff at the end of its host year.
Notably, Peru was not represented at either the Abac meeting nor among the officials in Auckland.
Asked for a final comment, Murray said New Zealand is a great partner for the US in Apec. “It’s great for me to be able to be here this week and even with the weather outside to share with the New Zealand Government officials, and also the private sector folks, Stephen Jacobi, Rachel Taulelei and Malcolm Johns.
“The contribution New Zealand makes to Apec is pretty extraordinary ... I hope we respond to it with the agility and ability of New Zealand.”
Matt Murray has had a lengthy career in the US State Department, much of it focused on economic engagement with the Asia-Pacific. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he spent nearly a decade in China. He was appointed as the US senior official for Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) in February 2022. In this role, he co-ordinates US participation in Apec and also oversees the Office of Economic Policy in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
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