This year’s APEC Leaders Meeting was significant for the Philippines for a number of reasons.

During the meeting, the leaders discussed the status of the on-going WTO negotiations and efforts to move forward the Doha Development Agenda; the review of the Mid-Term progress of APEC towards the Bogor Goal of free trade and investment in the region by 2010 for developed and 2020 for developing economies and the enhancement of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. They also discussed counter-terrorism, health and energy security, and anti-corruption as they affect the economic security and stability on the region.

These are issues that deeply affect our economic and security interests.

Both at Ministerial and Leaders levels, Philippine leadership in counter-terrorism efforts was also widely acknowledged. Ambassador Benjamin Defensor is the incumbent Chairman of the APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force and he can further discuss this issue with you.  Ambassador Defensor can also discuss with you the two concrete proposals that the President made during the ASEAN 7+US Leaders Meeting.  These proposals are:

· The hosting by the Philippines of an APEC experts meeting on counterterrorism.

· The holding of a joint meeting between ASEAN, the United States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) on counterterrorism cooperation.  The President called on the United States to support and even spearhead this initiative.

President Arroyo acknowledged the regional assistance, particularly from the United States, in the Philippine counter-terrorism and anti-corruption efforts.

The President also emphasized the importance of cooperation in capacity-building, citing the approval by the US of a  US$20 million fund for the Philippines under the Millennium Challenge Account, where the Philippines has qualified under the threshold program. Under the MCA, the Philippines would have the facility for more focused programs for fiscal reform, fiscal consolidation, tax collection efficiency, and prosecution of tax evasion. The MCA will fund more efficient Philippine revenue collection and anti-corruption programs under the Revenue Integrity Protection System (RIPS), Run After Tax Evaders (RATEs), and Run After the Smugglers (RATS).

The APEC region accounts for more than 50% of global trade. The Leaders agreed to move forward the negotiations for the Doha Development Agenda, which will be essential for the continued economic growth and prosperity in the region.

President Arroyo has already given instructions to Philippine government negotiators to help assure the success of the DDA negotiations. Failure of the current round could be detrimental to the world economy and a lost opportunity for both developed and developing economies.

The cause of agriculture in global trade was given a major boost by the APEC Leaders.  As a country that exports agricultural products, the Philippines will benefit from this.

The Philippines committed themselves to move the DDA process, address the deadlock in agricultural issue and ensure that the round would be fair to all. They recognized the need for strong political will to unlock the impasse in the negotiations.

Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines shared the U.S. view that the European Union must match the recent U.S. offer to achieve a breakthrough in the agricultural negotiations. The current DDA round has a development agenda and its success would spell gains for the Philippines in terms of greater market access not only in goods but also in services.

To address the problem of avian flu, President Arroyo shared with APEC Leaders Philippine best practices in preventing bird flu by taking vigilant measures, cross monitoring of migratory birds, individual stockpiling of vaccines and medicines.

As anticipatory measures, the Philippines agreed with the proposal to network member-countries’ stockpiles of Tamiflu so that affected economies could benefit from them. They also called for research and development for new vaccines only intended for human virus.

While in Korea, the President received an honorary Doctorate Degree in Political Science from Kyung Sung University.  In her acceptance speech, she highlighted the recent major gains of the Philippine economy.  She also enumerated the additional investments that would be coming from Korea, particularly in the transportation and energy sector. END
 

/bjg