20 October 2005 – Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Edsel T. Custodio said the Philippines aims to promote greater access of the country’s human resources in the global services market during the coming Economic Leaders’ Meeting and Ministerial Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Busan, South Korea, from 15 – 19 November 2005.

“The knowledge-based economy has become one of the main thrusts of APEC.  By further developing our educational system, our human resource supply – which is one of our major assets – will be one of our biggest competitive advantages in the international market,” Undersecretary Custodio said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be attending the 13th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) while Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto G. Romulo will head the Philippine Delegation to the 17th APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM), both of which will be held in Busan.  Undersecretary Custodio will be accompanying President Arroyo and Secretary Romulo.

At a briefing for the media in preparation for the APEC Meetings, Undersecretary Custodio stated, “The participation of President Arroyo and Secretary Romulo during this APEC year highlights the Philippines’ continuing commitment towards forging closer mutually beneficial trade, economic security, and socio-cultural relations with other economies in the region.”

Undersecretary Custodio said that South Korea has identified this year’s overall theme “Towards One Community: Meet the Challenge, Make the Change,” to guide APEC’s work for 2005.

The Undersecretary remarked, “We have to build on this theme for us to overcome the limitations that we currently have.”

The theme, among other objectives, calls on each APEC member economy to renew their commitments to the 1994 Bogor (Indonesia) Goals of free and open trade and investment in the region by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies.  APEC member economies are expected to take stock of their progress towards achieving these goals and, later, roadmap new strategies to build on what has been achieved so far.

Undersecretary Custodio said, “Free trade is the engine for faster growth for developing countries.  The Philippines is now the 33rd largest exporting economy in the world.  We have been able to achieve better economic growth than many other developing countries because of our investments-based economy.”

Undersecretary Custodio also said that at the Meetings, APEC member economies will also redouble their efforts to ensure a transparent and secure Asia-Pacific regional business environment.

In this respect, the Philippines joins other developing economies in stressing the importance of technical assistance and capacity-building.  “Developed countries must commit to a higher level of capacity-building in the major areas of concern such as Small/Medium Enterprises (SMEs), gender integration, transparency and anti-corruption,” Undersecretary Custodio stated.

The Meetings will also aim for strengthening the capability of APEC member economies to combat terrorism.  The delegations will also address other important human security issues such as those on regional health preparedness against potential pandemics (such as bird flu), energy preparedness, and preparedness to mitigate the damage wrought by natural calamities.

The Undersecretary stressed that, “This year, initiatives will be undertaken to strengthen the current bonds between all APEC member economies with the objective of building a closer community conducive towards more robust regional economic development by carrying out increased cross-cultural communication, cooperation and exchange geared towards building a sense of community among APEC member economies in a context of regional cultural diversity.”

Undersecretary Custodio further said that APEC member economies – which now collectively represent more than half of global trade – are also expected to issue a strong message of support for the current round of World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations, and will clearly outline their expectations for a successful 6th WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong on December 2005.

The APEC member economies are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States.  END