10 March 2016 - The Philippine delegation to the APEC 2016 First Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1) held from March 03 to 04 in Lima, Peru successfully advanced the country’s key initiatives introduced last year under the inclusive growth agenda of the Philippines’ APEC 2015 chairmanship.
The Philippine delegation, led by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo as Acting APEC Senior Official of the Philippines, prioritized the next steps of the APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth, the APEC Services Cooperation Framework, and the APEC Boracay Action Agenda to Globalize MSMEs – all of which were adopted in 2015 and are to be implemented beginning this year by all 21 APEC economies through an agreed reporting mechanism, roadmap, or defined activities at the technical working group-level.
The APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth, which measures economic growth according to the strength of social cohesion and institutional building as well as the degree of environmental impact, includes the recommendation for economies to report on their respective programs and activities towards realizing quality growth. Noting its synergy with the APEC 2016 theme, “Quality Growth and Human Development”, Senior Officials agreed to develop a reporting mechanism that captures the APEC’s trade and development objectives of quality growth, in which economies’ annual progress can be monitored.
Senior Officials also agreed to mainstream the APEC Boracay Action Agenda to help boost the entry of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in regional and global markets through an APEC-wide Implementation Plan which includes a provision for economies to report on their developments, as well as annual stocktake of the supporting activities at the level of the APEC technical working groups such as those overseeing finance, women and the economy, telecommunications, and market access.
“The Philippines remains steadfast and persistent in implementing initiatives that boost growth in the various sectors of the economy, engage local businesses, and generate job opportunities for local communities. We remain committed to our goal of inclusive growth by making the most of the benefits of regional integration and trade facilitation in our own economy,” said Undersecretary Rodolfo in his intervention.
On the first-year implementation of the APEC Services Cooperation Framework, Senior Officials agreed to begin developing the 2016-2025 long-term Services Competitiveness Roadmap which will set targets for services trade and capacity-building in the region. The Philippines is one of the key drafters of Roadmap and it will organize a Public-Private Dialogue on Services in May at the next Senior Officials’ Meeting. APEC Ministers and Leaders are expected to adopt the Services Competitiveness Roadmap this November.
The SOM1 meeting followed the series of APEC technical working group meetings which were held from February 20 to March 02 in Lima. These meetings were attended by Philippine agencies including the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Health (DOH), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and Office of the Ombudsman (OB). These agencies spearheaded the discussions on the first-year implementation of APEC 2015 initiatives such as the Healthy Asia-Pacific 2020 Roadmap, the APEC 2015 Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, and the Renewed APEC Agenda on Structural Reform.
The Philippines will continue to advance the above work programs at the next Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM2) this May in Arequipa, Peru. The Philippines, together with the other 20 APEC member economies, will update their progress at the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) meeting which immediately follows SOM2. END