This is what they said during the two-day ministerial meeting at the APEC annual meeting, a prelude to the group’s Economic Leaders’ meeting, to be held from Wednesday to Friday in this city in California, in the west of the country.

The ministers agreed on the context of pressing economic challenges and, in this sense, the need to promote a sustainable future, but sometimes the events serve to establish commitments that are far from being fulfilled in practice, according to some colleagues.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his opening remarks the day before, opined that “each of us recognizes that inequality within and between our countries hinders the growth of our entire region and that more inclusive economies are also stronger economies”.

However, in the case of the United States, history has shown that official speeches do not always correspond to practice.

The head of U.S. diplomacy, presided over the opening plenary session along with the host nation’s trade representative, Katherine Tai.

ef/arm/mgt/df