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Download President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for improved connectivity under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation mechanism as part of efforts to promote economic integration. At the APEC informal economic leaders' meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, Xi renewed his call to establish an Asian investment bank to finance infrastructure construction. Connectivity is vital to the Asia-Pacific region, which covers 21 economies and is home to a population of 2.8 billion, the president said. "China is keen to explore and develop investment and financing channels for infrastructure construction," he said. After the meeting, APEC leaders signed a joint declaration that aims to shore up economic development in the region. "We encourage efforts to strengthen partnerships involving government, private sector and international institutions to explore and improve infrastructure financing and investment," the statement said. It also highlighted topics including achieving sustainable growth with equity and promoting inter-connectivity in the region. Wei Jianguo, secretary-general of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a government think tank, said that promoting connectivity can help rebalance industrial structures and upgrade growth patterns among APEC economies. For developing economies in the region, a priority is to shift export-oriented economies into ones that depend more on "domestic power," he said. | 
