This report was presented at the Annual Ministerial Meeting in September 2012 in Vladivostok, Russia. It highlighted the relatively strong economic performance of the APEC region amid a deteriorating external environment as the slowdown in the global economy that began in late 2011 intensified in the first half of 2012. The slowdown of global growth and the fragility of the economic recovery, as well as the continuing downside risks that remain, present substantial challenges for the region. Therefore, coordinated and collective action by the entire global community, including the need for economies to refrain from raising new barriers to trade in goods and services or to investment, is required in order to end the current period of uncertainty and to ensure future stability and economic growth.