12 February 2015 - Guided by the APEC 2015 overarching theme “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World,” the recently concluded First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and Related Meetings, held from January 26 to February 07 at the Clark and Subic Freeport Zones, tackled initiatives on food security, management of health threats and improvement of natural disaster risk reduction to support the APEC 2015 priority “Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities.”
Food Security – The APEC Oceans and Fisheries Working Group meeting highlighted how fisheries and sustainable aquaculture are critical to ensuring food security, sustainable livelihoods, and economic prosperity worldwide. Fish are a critical source of protein for many, particularly in the APEC Region. One way of achieving food security in the coastal and marine environment is to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, improve biodiversity of all support-ecosystems, and create well-maintained ecosystems that provide more ecological goods and better ecological services.
This October in Iloilo, the Ocean and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) and Policy Partnership for Food Security (PPFS) will come together for the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Food Security and Blue Economy. One of the key deliverables is the APEC Food Security Action Plan, which will be a long-term OFWG strategy for addressing food security aligned with the APEC food system and PPFS Roadmap. The development of a blue economy in the APEC region is an important approach to attain sustainable development and utilization of marine resources and ecosystems as well as achieve inclusive economic growth.
The OFWG and the PPFS are both chaired by Undersecretary Asis Perez of the Philippine Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
Health – At the Life Sciences Innovation Forum (LSIF) and the Health Working Group (HWG) meetings, APEC economies reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen healthcare systems as a step towards APEC’s goal of a healthy Asia-Pacific region by 2020. For 2015, LSIF and HWG will concentrate on the following areas: universal healthcare coverage, prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, health financing, food safety, and preparedness for effective management of infectious diseases and health pandemics. The APEC LSIF and HWG agendas directly feed into the APEC 2015 theme of inclusive growth through the development and promotion of innovative healthcare systems and products.
As shared by the Philippine delegation, jointly led by Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), APEC’s Healthy Asia-Pacific vision complements the Kalusugan Pangkalahatan initiative under the Aquino Health Agenda that aims to achieve equitable access to quality health care by all Filipinos.
Emergency Preparedness - The impact of disasters on human lives, particularly on livelihood, business, and trade, knows no borders, emphasized the APEC Emergency Preparedness Group (EPWG). APEC can contribute in enabling the Asia-Pacific region to better prepare for and respond to emergencies and disasters by helping to reduce the risks of disasters and building business and community resilience. APEC member economies shared experiences and best practices on four thematic areas of disaster management – prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery and rehabilitation. The meeting also highlighted the importance of research and science and technology in reducing the damage of disasters and the significance of business continuity in ensuring livelihood and trade flow.
Undersecretary Alexander Pama of the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) noted that “disaster management requires inter-economy cooperation to ensure sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region and that a holistic, comprehensive, integrated and proactive disaster risk reduction management approach is a new paradigm in confronting disasters.”
Spearheaded by the discussions at the technical working group level, APEC Senior Officials agreed to continue to place emphasis on capacity-building, and economic and technical cooperation on food security, health and emergency preparedness. The discussions will be elevated to high-level meetings later this year, including the High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy, and Senior Disaster Management Officials’ Forum in September; and the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Food Security and the Blue Economy in October. END