President Aquino on Thursday said the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit “took a broader approach” in tackling the challenges “presented by the ever-changing global economic milieu.”
“In fact, when we said yes to hosting, it was with the expectation that all the facilities in construction at the time—both public and private—would be finished by the time we had to welcome our guests. Apart from the fact that, as a general rule, each one of these visitors creates one new job for us, they have also now seen our country and met our people. In other words, they have discovered that the Philippines not only works, but it is indeed more fun,” he said.
Mr. Aquino expressed his gratitude to the Filipino public.
More than 11,000 people from the 21-member bloc, applying member Colombia and the Apec Business Advisory Council attended the weeklong event in Manila.
“All my fellow leaders heaped praise on how our people have welcomed them, and their words really made me swell up with pride. Truly, it is a singular honor to lead such a great people. I am certain that, with your continued support, there is absolutely no doubt that the Philippines will continue its progress for years, if not generations to come,” he said.
With the adoption of inclusive growth he had pushed, Mr. Aquino’s hosting of the biggest economic forum in the final stretch of his administration would easily become one of his legacies. The Philippines last hosted the Apec in 1996.
In the concluding statement he read to reporters, Mr. Aquino thanked his fellow Apec leaders “for their collaborative efforts and positive spirit as we worked together toward the goals that we share, and our cooperation gives us optimism that we can achieve greater progress sooner rather than later.”
Mr. Aquino said he and his fellow leaders adopted the overarching frameworks for the action plans drawn up from the 229 meetings that were held by representatives of the 21 member-countries throughout the year that led to strategies to empower small and medium enterprises, among others.
The frameworks include the Apec strategy for strengthening quality growth that will “guide us in undertaking robust, comprehensive, and ambitious structural reforms over the next five years.”
“We will focus our reform efforts, and measure our progress, in terms of institution-building, social cohesion and environmental impact. We do this with the awareness that the world economy continues to confront significant risk and uncertainty, even as trade growth is slowing down, thus impressing upon all of us, the need to tap into new opportunities for economic growth. This strategy will help Apec promote increased growth through structural reform,” he explained.
The leaders also approved the Apec services cooperation framework as “a more important part of the economic equation.”
“It makes up approximately two-thirds of the GDP in the Apec region, and we need to put more emphasis and thought into making this sector even more competitive. This framework will lead to a goal-driven road map for us to achieve over the next decade, to help the sector thrive,” Mr. Aquino said.
He said the Boracay Action Agenda would give micro, small and medium enterprises access to the global and regional markets.
The Cebu Action Plan complements the Boracay Action Plan as it seeks to widen entrepreneurial access to financial markets and among its other benefits will be lowering the cost of remittances, the President said.
He also added that the Renewed Apec Agenda for Structural Reform was finalized which would guide economies on which areas they need to reform to achieve sustained growth and the Disaster Risk Reduction Framework recognizes the impact of climate change on our region.
“This framework aims to minimize losses and promote best practices so that we can build back better,” Mr. Aquino said.
12 meetings
President Aquino held a total of 11 bilateral meetings with his counterparts: Chile, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, the United States, Australia, South Korea, Russia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.
“We have taken existing partnerships to a new level. With Mexico, for instance, we committed to work together to combat drug trafficking, which is a common concern of our peoples. With Papua New Guinea, we offered our assistance in supporting their agriculture sector. It was also during this week that we formalized our strategic partnership with Vietnam and our comprehensive partnership with Australia,” Mr. Aquino said.
“Moving forward, the areas in which we will work more closely together include defense, disaster risk reduction and food security,” he added.
The President also met with the Pacific Alliance consisting of Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru, the “high growth potentials” of these countries and the Philippines.
“A number of leaders also expressed their support for the Philippines joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), once it comes into force. This is a very encouraging sign; we of course want to join the TPP because it offers access to a far larger market,” he said.
Mr. Aquino said the United States and Australia expressed support for the Philippines’ desire to join the TPP.
