Bollard said that APEC is highly interested in the China-proposed Belt & Road Initiative, which in his words is about investment in projects and development of infrastructure and would play a role in enhancing connectivity in the region.

Connectivity is one of the four priorities Vietnam has outlined for the upcoming APEC summit on food security and climate change.

"We need to be very careful about any effects of big climatic events, given the fact the majority of APEC population live very close to the coastal and river deltas and very subject to climatic changes," said Bollard.

Moreover, there's a lot of food waste due to inadequate transport or storage facilities, and poor connectivity.

Concerning priority topics involving modernizing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the digital economy, the executive director noted that China and the United States have set examples in that direction, with China now leading in mobile-based e-commerce and the United States on laptop-based e-commerce.

"Most of our businesses are small businesses. Most of them cannot get into the international or regional economic growth drivers at all, but e-commerce opens this up," he said, stressing that revitalizing SMEs through e-commerce has got the potential to "help develop a revolution in APEC."

In addition, many supply chains are now making it possible to guarantee quality, finance, payments and market access for small businesses, he said.

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