Apec also for man on the street, not just a ‘bunch of meetings’

THE country’s hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit will not only benefit businessmen and private corporations but also ordinary Filipinos, top entrepreneurs said on Monday.

Doris Magsaysay Ho, chairman of Apec business advisory council, said Apec this year aims to promote inclusive growth by bringing more people from the broader sector of the society into trade.

“Our theme was really premised on where we conceive the biggest potential for growth. This regional integration has really brought in huge growth in the middle class. What we want to see is where we could find different areas of growth through regional integration,” Ho said during the Meet Inquirer Multimedia forum in Makati City.

“We feel that the efforts we’ve done are to really engage the business sector to see how we can use all these to actually define a very thoughtful future for the Philippines and our people in the years to come,” she added.

Ho said Apec can be for the “man on the street” by incorporating a “new vision” on Filipinos can participate in the economic process.

“We have a really robust agenda for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), putting more MSMEs into global value chains, e-commerce, and having a very clear innovation agenda across the region and in our economy,” Ho said.

“As a country full of talent, we should really put our agenda on goods and services,” she added.

Describing Filipinos as “warm” in terms of reception, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said hosting the Apec summit should be a “natural thing” for a very welcoming people.

“I think we have to learn as a country to host big events. The world is increasingly interconnected. Exchange of information is part and part of a mature and growing economy. Hosting should be a natural strength of our country,” Zobel de Ayala said.

But Guillermo Luz noted that the Philippines should look at Apec beyond hosting duties.

“We can’t run the country with three cities. We need cities moving at the same time growing in a well-managed way. That requires a lot of planning and good implementation skills,” Luz said.

“I think that’s the value to all of us, the man on the street. What makes Apec relevant to all of us—not just hosting and not just a bunch of meetings. We need to translate all that stuff leaders talk about into something with value for ordinary citizens—that’s what inclusive growth is all about,” he added.

But saying that poverty incidence has not significantly decreased over the past years, Luz admitted that it is not easy for ordinary Filipinos to feel the effects of a growing economy.

“Curing poverty is much more complex than any of us have ever imagined,” Luz said, highlighting the importance of generating jobs.