30 January 2015 – Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials, in partnership with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) of the Philippines and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), will have a Public-Private Dialogue on Services on February 03 at the Clark Freeport Zone as one of the related meetings of the ongoing First Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1).
The event is the first in a series of dialogues on services in 2015 envisioned to guide APEC’s public and private stakeholders in examining developments, challenges, and opportunities for the services sectors; identifying new strategies for building the full potential of the services sectors; generating policy options towards removing barriers to services trade; developing an innovative approach in pursuing the services agenda of APEC; and fostering collaboration and best practice exchanges to promote services in trade.
Twenty two (22) speakers, including representatives from the academe and private sector from across the Asia-Pacific region as well as from international organizations such as the International Trade Centre and the Asian Development Bank, have been invited to share their expertise on Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM), Creative Industries, and Research and Development Services.
Government representatives from the APEC member economies, together with their private sector counterparts,will evaluate the current work on services being done in various APEC fora, and discuss how APEC could promote services in the region.
A second Public Private Dialogue is set at the margins of the Second Officials’ Meetings this May in Boracay, which will focus on services relevant to trade in goods. The first Regional Conference of Services Coalitions and Service Industries will be held at the margins of the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting later in the year in Cebu.
The First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and Related Meetings (SOM1) runs from January 26 to February 07 at the Clark and Subic Freeport Zones. END