24 November 2015 – Four days after the successful hosting by the Philippines of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Manila, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary and APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader Laura Q. Del Rosario shared the outcomes of APEC 2015 at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris, France.

Over 80 participants from various OECD delegations, diplomatic missions, French government agencies, think tanks and companies attended the Forum entitled “APEC Philippines 2015: Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World.”

During the first session, Undersecretary Del Rosario spoke about the priorities of APEC Philippines 2015: enhancing the regional economic agenda, fostering MSMEs’ participation in regional and global markets, investing in human capital development and building sustainable and resilient communities.

Undersecretary Del Rosario also shared the outcomes of the Economic Leaders’ Meeting, particularly the Philippines’ contributions to the APEC process.

“The Philippines has produced a ‘new kind of APEC’. Aside from pushing the traditional APEC agenda of trade and investment, the Philippines also pushed for a development agenda through inclusive growth and the APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth. This Strategy mandates all APEC economies to build institutions on good governance, social cohesion and environmental impact. And in 2020, APEC will release a report on the APEC economies’ progress in these key accountability areas,” the Undersecretary explained.

Another item on the development agenda that the Philippines introduced was the role of women in development. “This is the first time in APEC history that the SOM Leader was a woman. The ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Council) Chair was also a woman (Ms. Doris Magsaysay Ho). Women were driving APEC this year and all the men said yes to us.”

During the second session which focused on the Philippines, OECD experts shared some policy recommendations for the Philippines to be on track to become a high-income country by 2048 (based on OECD estimates).

Mr. Kensuke Tanaka, Head of Asia of the OECD Development Center, summed it up, “The growth prospects and macroeconomic stability of the Philippines are good, therefore now is the time to embark on structural reforms.”

Taking off from the 2016 Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India which the OECD launched on November 20, Mr. Tanaka highlighted the need for the Philippines to improve job creation, infrastructure development and the overall framework for disaster risk reduction and management.

The Forum was jointly organized by the OECD Development Center and the Philippine Embassy in Paris. END