19 August 2015 - The Philippines gives the services agenda its much deserved focus when Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers, senior officials, and businesses meet at the first ever Regional Conference of Services Coalitions in Cebu on September 07.
Organized jointly by the Philippine government and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), this pioneering event will bring together APEC officials, business leaders, small enterprises, users of services, and service organizations, in a dialogue, to find ways to maximize the full potential of the services sector as part of the Global Value Chain. The role of services as a game changer in domestic and regional development, and how this can translate to development gains, will be at the center of the discussions in the conference.
With the services industry in the Philippines currently employing 1.052 million Filipinos, and the services sector as the largest contributor to Philippine growth figures at 56.7% of gross domestic product in the 4th quarter of 2014, the discussion on ways to boost the services sector growth is a priority of the Philippines for APEC 2015.
The Philippines hopes to raise public awareness particularly among micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on the opportunities in the services sector including employment and improving MSMEs’ participation in global markets. With the theme, “Charting a New Course on Services: A Call to Action in APEC,” the Conference will look at how services have helped bring about major business transformation in APEC. Services is said to represent the fastest growing sector of the global economy and accounts for about 60% of global output and employment, and nearly 20% of global trade. The World Bank reports that services account for almost 71% of the global GDP.
Services coalitions and business organizations in APEC, both big and small, will come together in a ground breaking effort to forge an understanding on the prospective establishment of an APEC Services Coalition. This Coalition will seek to provide a resounding voice to services stakeholders toward promoting broad understanding on the vast opportunities and the essential measures that need to be considered to realize unbridled gains from the sector.
As precursor to the Conference, two Public-Private Dialogues (PPDs) on services were held at the margins of the First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1) in Clark, Pampanga in February, and SOM2 in Boracay, Aklan in May. The first PPD featured developments, challenges and opportunities in Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM), Creative Industries, and Research and Development Services, while the second PPD covered Manufacturing, Environment, and Agriculture-related Services, as well as the role of services in achieving inclusive growth.
The Conference is also expected to contribute to the development of the APEC Services Cooperation Framework, a Philippine initiative for an APEC strategy for services competitiveness, to be endorsed by APEC Leaders in November.
The Regional Conference is being organized in cooperation with the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), and with the support of the International Trade Centre (ITC), and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia (DFAT). END