05 June 2015 - Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Laura Q. del Rosario, the Philippines’ SOM Leader for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) this year, gave a lecture to some 80 graduate students specializing in international relations, finance and trade at one of Korea’s three leading private universities on May 28.
Coming fresh from chairing the APEC 2nd Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM2) in Boracay on May 20 to 21, Undersecretary del Rosario delivered a presentation at the Sogang University Graduate School for International Studies (GSIS) Global Executive Lecture, where she spoke to GSIS post-graduate students about developments in APEC and the Philippines’ role as the host country.
Prior to the lecture, Undersecretary del Rosario, accompanied by Philippine Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Raul S. Hernandez and other Embassy officials, met with GSIS Dean Dr. Yoon Heo, International Relations Professor Dr. Jaechun Kim, and Professor Chinese Economy and Trade Professor Dr. Sijoong Kim.
During her presentation, Undersecretary del Rosario challenged the attendees, including three Filipino students from other universities, to describe the rapid and comprehensive changes in technology, business and lifestyle in the last 50 or so years, and how people should adapt to the variety, velocity and volume of change.
She also described the accomplishments of the recently concluded APEC SOM2 and related meetings, in particular “The Boracay Action Agenda to Globalize MSMEs,” which calls for a host of specific, concrete and practical interventions that APEC economies can implement to provide MSMEs wider opportunities to integrate into global or regional trade, either through global value chains (GVCs) or as direct exporters of finished goods and services.
She also fielded questions from students from Afghanistan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, China and the Philippines about political stability, the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), R&D in Southeast Asia, free movement of labor and students, technological transformation among social scientists and institutional connectivity among APEC economies. END