Aquino: Apec meeting will help solve Philippines’ problems

DIRTY JOB. No less than President Aquino, accompanied by Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, inspects facilities of the international airport terminal named after his father on Thursday night. The President ordered subordinates to fast-track the upgrading of the 30-year-old Naia I which a CNN report dubbed as the fifth most hated airport in the world. Malacañang Photo

HONOLULU—President Aquino and other leaders of the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum are meeting this weekend in this city right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean against a backdrop of the European debt crisis threatening the world economy.

Mr. Aquino’s discussions with other officials at the 19th Apec Leaders’ Summit will focus on economic growth, job creation, regulatory reforms and competitiveness, to help protect Apec from the turbulence that has gripped the European Union.

Led by the United States, several Apec members are also building support for a regional free trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to help boost Apec economies.

In a statement before flying to Hawaii at 4 p.m. Friday, Mr. Aquino said he would use the inputs he would gather from the summit to address similarly pressing problems back home.

He said he would take the opportunity to further work on the Philippines’ economic security, while exploring energy efficiency and creating more jobs.

“Every strategy, proposal and knowledge that we will gather at Apec, we can use to solve the problems of our country and pursue the interest of our people,” he said.

Apec, the forum formed by 21 Pacific Rim economies to cooperate on regional and investment issues, is being hosted in Hawaii this year by the United States, which first hosted the forum on Blake Island, Washington, in 1993.

The four days of meetings, which culminate in the annual summit of leaders, are attended by heads of state and government, Cabinet ministers, business leaders and the heads of the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, among many others.

Mr. Aquino is also scheduled to engage hundreds of chief executives from Apec economies during the Apec CEO summit, one of the meetings preceding the Leaders’ Summit this weekend.

No stranger to Hawaii

He will be addressing the CEO session on energy security, food security and commodity security.

Aside from Apec-related activities, Mr. Aquino is also expected to meet with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Mr. Aquino said he was looking forward to his meeting with Gillard and with the Filipino community in Hawaii.

The President will end his trip here with a meeting with members of the Filipino community in Hawaii. There are more than 600,000 Filipinos living here.

“Filipinos are no strangers to Hawaii, that’s why we are excited to see how our fellow Filipinos are doing there,” he said.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario will also hold bilateral discussions with his counterparts from Japan, Mexico, Canada and Thailand.

The officials joining Mr. Aquino on the Honolulu trip are Del Rosario, his chief trouble-shooter Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda and Miguel Perez-Rubio, the presidential assistant on foreign affairs.

Also joining the presidential party are Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia, Foreign Undersecretary Laura del Rosario of the Apec national secretariat and Consul General Leoncio Cardenas. With a report from Christian V. Esguerra