The reason for the US refusal to make political statements in the APEC declaration has been named

Washington refused to include the final declaration of the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the text, as it was subjected to intense pressure from Muslim countries, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in one of the delegations.

“The US was forced to abandon the policy due to severe pressure from Muslim members of APEC,” the report said.

The text of the final declaration notes the need to “respond to the interests of all people and economies.” At the same time, the opinion of some summit participants is noted, who considered that APEC is an inappropriate platform for geopolitical discussions. At the same time, the United States issued a separate statement as chairman of the summit, in which they noted the conflict in Ukraine, problems of the global economy and the food crisis.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, who headed the Russian delegation, said. That Russia’s position was taken into account when preparing the final declaration of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. According to the politician, there were no “toxic” manifestations. The final declaration is a regular working document identifying the main economic problems and other tasks that require solutions.

He noted that the Russian delegation at the summit was received quite favorably. US President Joe Biden and his wife took part in one of the protocol events, but there were no negative manifestations towards Russian diplomats.

Overchuk also emphasized that Russia used the summit to strengthen ties with the economies of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation countries. In particular, there was business communication with representatives of Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and other dynamically developing countries in the region. At the same time, Russia presented a number of promising projects. Among them is the project for the construction of the North-South corridor, which will connect the Baltic Sea with the Persian Gulf. There was also talk of investment and development of railway infrastructure in eastern Russia, which would ensure the movement of goods from the Indo-Pacific region to Western countries.