07 December 2015 - Following the AGC’s successful delivery of the standalone Leaders’ Statement on Supporting the Multilateral Trading System and the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference, as well as the significant results of the APEC meetings held in Manila in November 2015, Philippine Permanent Representative to the WTO, Ambassador Esteban B. Conejos, Jr., convened the final Heads of Delegation (HoD) meeting of the APEC Geneva Caucus (AGC) under the Philippine chairmanship on November 27 at the Centre William Rappard.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations and APEC 2015 SOM Chair Laura Q. Del Rosario attended the meeting and was pleased to inform the Caucus that, in 2015, the development agenda of APEC came into full fruition through inclusive growth and the APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth. Undersecretary Del Rosario added that APEC 2015’s deliverables under the Philippine chairmanship include the APEC Services Cooperation Framework (ASCF), the Boracay Action Agenda for Globalizing MSMEs and the Implementation Plan, Renewed APEC Agenda for Structural Reform (RAASR), Food Security and Blue Economy Plan of Action, Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, and the role of women in development, among other equally important deliverables.
Before formally turning over the chairmanship of the Caucus to Peru, Ambassador Conejos said a few words on how the standalone Leaders’ Statement on Supporting the Multilateral Trading System and the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference was finalized in Manila after rigorous consultations with economies and thanked the members of the Caucus for their untiring efforts and invaluable cooperation during the drafting process.
Following the ceremonial turnover, Ambassador Luis Enrique Chavez Basagoitia, Permanent Representative of Peru to the WTO, congratulated the Philippines for its successful year-round hosting of APEC, adding that the Philippines “set the bar very high, and hosting APEC in 2016 will be quite a challenge for Peru from the diplomatic, political and organizational points of view.” Ambassador Chavez also announced that “Quality Growth and Human Development” is Peru’s theme for its APEC chairmanship in 2016. The said theme is in line with Peru’s priorities, which include food markets, human capital development, SMEs, modernization and regional economic integration.
Permanent Representatives and other Geneva-based officers of the 21 APEC member economies took the floor to acclaim the Philippine chairmanship of APEC as a “competent and strategic chairmanship with a rich set of results and a forward-looking agenda,” and reaffirmed their commitment to work together to ensure that Peru’s chairmanship of APEC in 2016 will be successful. END