18 May 2015 – The role of services in inclusive growth became the overarching theme of the APEC Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on Services held yesterday, at the margins of the Second Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM2).
APEC 2015 SOM Chair, Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura Q. Del Rosario, in her opening address compared the discussion on Services as “another galaxy that people do not understand and are afraid of.” However, she mentioned that Services was worth discussing as it was “important and useful”, thus inviting participants, composed of APEC Senior Officials and representatives from the 21 APEC member-economies, various government agencies, and the private sector, to engage in the discussion on Services both at the PPD, and beyond.
“The Services sector is the primary source of global growth. It is what drives the economy, both in developed and developing economies”, remarked keynote speaker, Dr. Sherry Stephenson, Senior Fellow for the International Centre for Trade and Development, emphasizing the need to focus on Services as it plays a critical role in Global Value Chains (GVC) development and cooperation and to further push economic growth trajectory to Inclusive Growth. Services account for 60% of GDP in APEC and 60% of overall APEC employment. This sector accounts for more growth in the region than any other sector.
In line with the APEC 2015 theme of “Building Inclusive Growth, Building a Better World”, Dr. Stephenson gave a clear picture of the ways services have contributed to inclusive growth by increasing productivity and economic growth leading to poverty reduction, increasing employment opportunities especially for women, enhancing connectivity, and improving Small and Medium Enterprises’ participation in Global Value Chains. Through services, SMEs and women do not have the same challenges as they would have in the manufacturing or good sector. Services require less capital and less hard infrastructure, and if a business is conducted via the Internet, it becomes essentially cost-free.
Dr. Stephenson illustrated this with successful mobile banking programs in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea as examples of how access to financial services have connected the communities and small businesses to their suppliers, customers, business partners and banks through the mobile phone throughout the Indonesian and Papua New Guinea islands, and across the world.
Dr. Stephenson’s message of trade and investment in services as a pathway to inclusive growth was carried forward in the subsequent PPD sessions on manufacturing, agriculture and environment-related services. Case studies and discussions of the three sectors’ respective opportunities and barriers to inclusive growth were shared by experts and industry players.
The PPD on Services is organized by the Philippines as APEC 2015 Chair, in partnership with the APEC Business Advisory Council currently chaired by Ms. Doris Magsaysay Ho, and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. The PPD in Boracay preludes the First Regional Conference of Services Coalitions and Services Industries at the sidelines of the Third Senior Officials Meeting to be held this September in Cebu. END