05 December 2014 – In support of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) pillar of Economic and Technical Cooperation or ECOTECH, the Philippines, as the 2014 Chair of the Senior Officials’ Meeting Steering Committee on ECOTECH (SCE), led APEC member economies in preparing and conducting economic and technical cooperation activities.

SCE is the APEC sub-fora responsible for overseeing the policies and conduct of ECOTECH initiatives in all APEC platforms. ECOTECH is mainly defined by capacity-building through the exchange of information and best practices between and among APEC Members. As an integral component of APEC’s work towards achieving the twin goals of trade and investment liberalization and business facilitation, APEC has placed a premium on capacity-building through trainings, workshops and research studies. In other words, APEC for APEC. 

As the 2014 Chair of the SCE, the Philippines presented the “2014 Senior Officials’ Report on Economic and Technical Cooperation”, which was endorsed at the APEC Joint Ministerial Meeting at the sidelines of the recently concluded APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Beijing, China.

The report introduced, among other things, ECOTECH’s medium-term priorities for 2015 to 2019, namely: (1) Developing human capital through capacity building, (2) Developing and strengthening the dynamism of SMEs, (3) Harnessing technologies for the future and supporting innovation, and (4) Inclusive growth – addressing the social dimension of globalization, health, and gender. These priorities will guide the future work plans of all APEC fora.

At the cusp of its own APEC hosting in 2015, the Philippines concludes its 2014 SCE Chairmanship with a vision for more targeted planning and delivery of well-rounded and effective capacity building activities in APEC.

For APEC 2015, the Philippines will prominently feature the role of human capital development and capacity-building in economic and social development. In a highly globalized and technologically driven world, a pool of qualified and competitive human resources can address multi-sectoral needs and ensure the sustainability of Asia-Pacific growth.

In 2015, the Philippines as APEC host and chair will continue to oversee the work of SCE to be led by Peru. END