Finance Ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation-member countries held the 19th Finance Ministers Meeting at the Moscow, Russia last week. The key agenda in the meeting focused on advancing policies to make the financial sector more balanced and inclusive in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in public finance governance to mitigate immediate global and regional challenges.The results of the meeting will be reviewed next week during the APEC Economic Leader’s Meeting on September 8-9 in Vladivostok, Russia where President Benigno Aquino III and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima will also be attending.

The Finance Ministers issued a joint statement on the global outlook and perspective for the Asia-Pacific Region, fiscal sustainability, strategies on financial literacy, and financial measures to address the impact of natural disasters.