03 February 2015 – The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Mobility Group (BMG) cluster meeting continued in Subic on February 01 with the host economy Philippines starting the day’s bilateral dialogues, meeting the new BMG Convenor Mr. Peter Speldewinde and Australia on the sidelines of the 1st Senior Officials’ Meetings (SOM1).
BMG Chairperson and Department of Foreign Affairs Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) Assistant Secretary Wilfredo C. Santos and Philippine Bureau of Immigration Associate Commissioner Atty. Gilberto U. Repizo expressed the Philippines’ support to the current BMG initiatives to further enhance the APEC Business Travel Card scheme as they thanked Australia for its generous assistance and support to border management programs being undertaken by the Philippine government.
The Convenor thanked the Philippines for its efforts and arrangements in the hosting of the BMG at Subic, and welcomed the Philippines’ active participation in the BMG. Australia lauded the Philippines’ efforts to improve existing mechanisms related to border security and migration.
Joining the meeting were Mr. Derek Rupasinghe and Mr. Manny Picardal from Australia, along with OCA Visa Director Bryan Dexter Lao. END