01 June 2016 - APEC Senior Officials met at the 2nd Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM2), from May 14 to 15 in Arequipa, Peru, to continue with discussions on economic initiatives under the APEC 2016 theme of “Quality Growth and Human Development”.
“There is shared recognition in APEC that the deepening interconnectivity between our economies must keep pace with changes impacting growth and the potential of our people to thrive,” said Ambassador Luis Quesada, 2016 Chair of the APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting.
“We are modernizing trade and economic policy needed to lift the small businesses and labor forces who are the fundamental drivers of prosperity in the region,” he explained. “Our goal is to level the playing field in our economies and establish conditions that boost employment and social mobility for groups who have benefited less from globalization in the past.”
Senior Officials continued discussions on creating an enabling environment for the development of services which support production and supply chains, working to add to the momentum on services gained from the Philippines’ host year. They also renewed the call for greater participation from micro, small and medium enterprise participation in global value and supply chains through the use of electronic commerce and digital platforms.
They further emphasized the need to create and propagate channels for cross-border education and professional training in various areas and take steps to dissolve the mismatch between individual skills and competencies and the evolving needs of businesses to facilitate worker employability and therefore increase productivity.
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Underseceretary for International Economic Relations and Philippines’ APEC Senior Official Laura Q. Del Rosario thanked Peru for having carried on the major initiatives from the Philippines’ host year.
“We look forward to working closely with Peru on their Quality Growth Agenda as pursued through services competitiveness, MSMEs, Human Capacity Building through education and enhancing food markets. We note the continuing work of APEC on these issues and commend the seamless transition from APEC 2015’s inclusive growth agenda in to Peru’s host year,” she said.
The two-day meeting set the stage for the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting held from May 17 to 18, also in Arequipa. END
APEC Senior Officials Refocus Economies at 2nd APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting in Arequipa, Peru