APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Manila 17 – 19 November 2015
Founded in 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a multilateral international organization which seeks to foster free trade and economic prosperity among member-economies in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC is made up of 21 member-economies, namely: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States of America, and Vietnam.
The Leaders of the 21 APEC member economies concluded their meeting in Manila on Thursday by issuing the 23rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting Declaration— Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World: A Vision for an Asia-Pacific Community.
The Declaration outlines new commitments for APEC members to take forward over the coming year to build inclusive economies; foster the par- ticipation of micro, small and medium enterprises in regional and global markets; build sustainable and resilient communities; invest in human capital development; and enhance the regional economic integration agenda.
The Declaration states that while achieving ongoing economic transformation will not be easy, APEC Leaders are confident that APEC members will continue to drive regional and global economic prosperity through quality eco- nomic growth, as supported by these collective commitments.
More trade and employment for Filipinos in Australia after APEC
Vibrant economic opportunities are expected as a result of bilateral meetings that the Philippines held with Australia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, PNG, Russia, and the US, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.
“The bilateral meetings identified potential investment areas and employment opportunities, stronger trade relations and export opportunities for Philippine products and services with APEC member-economies,” said employment secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz.
Staring off with Australia, potential investments include processed food and agribusiness, IT-BPM, engineering services, infrastructure and other private-public partnership (PPP) projects, auto parts exports, and manufacturing.
The Philippines has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Australia covering exchange of information on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems, joint implementation of collaborative projects, and facilitation of links between governments, industry organizations, and TVET bodies.
“We see the Philippines exhibiting healthy export trade relations with Australia for its paper and paperboard products, semi-manufactured forms of gold, lead acid for starting piston engines, heat exchange units, and static converters (rectifiers, for example),” Secretary Baldoz said. –From the Department of Labor and Employment.
