The 2015 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was a big

opportunity for the Philippines to host and facilitate over 7000 delegates with
21 member economies all over the globe. This big event was held on
November 18 and 19 in Manila. It is the second time the Philippines hosted
the summit after the APEC Philippines 1996 hosting.
Nowadays, Filipinos have a lot of questions on their minds. What are
goals or objectives of this APEC summit? How will the Philippines specifically
her countrymen benefit from this event. Was hosting the event worth it?
APEC summits theme was Building Inclusive Economies, Building a
Better World. The theme implied to us that the Philippines as a host
economy, it is significant to follow its different priorities which are the
following: Building inclusive economies; Fostering the participation of micro,
small and medium enterprises; Building sustainable and resilient
communities; and Enhancing the regional economic integration agenda.
These positive attributes if developed would greatly affect our political and
economic aspect. An inclusive economy is significant in different sections of
our society, its concept that involves equal opportunities for every economic
participant, regardless of their: economic class; gender; sex; disability and
religion. Sustainable economic growth requires inclusive growth, inclined in
our politics, maintaining these two are difficult, especially to some
developing countries because it gives rise to negative externalities like
corruption. Therefore, by removing barriers to opportunity, especially for
those least able to improve their own well-being, we are promoting inclusive
economies.
The Economic Leaders Meeting Declaration outlines new commitments
for APEC members to take forward over the coming year to build inclusive
economies; foster micro, small and medium enterprises participation
in regional and global markets; build sustainable and resilient communities;
invest in human capital development; and enhance the regional economic
integration agenda. The Declaration states that while achieving ongoing
economic transformation will not be easy, APEC Leaders are confident that APEC
members will continue to drive regional and global economic prosperity through
quality economic growth, as supported by these collective commitments.

_______

Statement
of
His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III
President of the Philippines
during the press conference at the International Media Center
[Delivered at the World Trade Center, Pasay City, on November 19, 2015]
It has been 19 years since the Philippines last hosted APEC. Back then, we led the
setting of concrete steps to open up our economies in line with the Bogor Goals. This
year, I am proud to have continued our success as hosts by laying the foundations on
which APEC can chart a course to improve trade and strengthen quality growth. I thank
my fellow APEC Leaders for their collaborative efforts and positive spirit as we worked
together towards the goals that we share, and our cooperation gives us optimism that
we can achieve greater progress sooner rather than later.
These past couple of days, we discussed the critical regional and global issues we face
as one Asia-Pacific region. If past APEC meetings were highly technical discussions on
trade issues, the discussions over the past couple of days have taken a broader
approach. We have sought to address the challenges presented by the ever-changing
global economic milieu. For instance, we shared ideas on how to encourage
technological innovation, while at the same time easing its disruptive effects on the job
market by giving rise to more resilient economies. We have likewise been able to
exchange ideas on how to foster greater inclusivity in our economies. Since inclusive
growth has always been the guiding principle of our administration, we are proud to
have put this approach front and center throughout our hosting APEC this year.
Throughout the year, representatives from all member economies held 229 meetings to
advance our individual economies and the region at large. During this time, we have
seen our locales lend their names to strategies that will help empower small and
medium enterprises, among others. There is, for instance, the Boracay Action Agenda,
which will help micro, small, and medium enterprises access the global and regional
markets. Complementing this is the Cebu Action Plan, which will widen entrepreneurial
access to financial markets. Among its other benefits will be lowering the cost of
remittances.
Apart from this, our representatives also finalized the Renewed APEC Agenda for
Structural Reform, which will guide economies on which areas they need to reform to
achieve sustained growth; as well as the Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, which
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.
At todays APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, we agreed on the overarching
frameworks under which we will pursue these plans. First, we adopted the APEC
Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth. This is a framework 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.
Second, the Leaders approved the APEC Services Cooperation Framework. The
services sector is becoming 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 roadmap for us to achieve over the next decade, to help the
sector thrive.
To make the most of this gathering, the Philippines, for its part, took the opportunity to
meet with leaders of economies, as well as leaders in the private sector, who had
gathered here in Manila. 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.
Moving forward, the areas in which we will work more closely together include defense,
disaster risk reduction, and food security. We also engaged in dialogue with the Pacific
Alliance, which is timely, given their high growth potential and ours.
A number of leaders also expressed their support for the Philippines joining the TransPacific Partnership, 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. The USA
and Australia, among other economies, expressed their support for this particular
endeavor. Apart from that, we were also pleased to hear the news that the USA would
be turning over to the Philippines a research vessel and a coast guard cutter which will
boost the capabilities of our Navy.
Over the past week, we welcomed more than 11,000 people to our country, including
those from the APEC Business Advisory Council, which, by the way, traces its origins to
the APEC Summit in Subic in 1996 in the Philippines. This number is more than double
the attendance of our previous hosting. In fact, when we said yes to hosting, it was with
the expectation that all the facilities in construction at the timeboth 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.
Our theme for APEC 2015 has been Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better
World. By balancing the discussions in APEC between the technical aspects of trade,
and its implications on the social and environmental challenges of growth, we have

refocused our discussions towards all our peoplethe ones whose lives we, as leaders,
are pledged to improve.
For all these successes, I thank all those who worked tirelessly to make this event
possible. Most importantly, I am grateful to our countrymen who have expressed their
support for our hosting. 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.
Thank you. Good evening.
____________________-

MANILA, Philippines - The recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

(APEC) 2015 summit in Manila with the theme "Building inclusive economies,
building a better world" was a success according to President Benigno Aquino III.
The APEC which was established in 1989, is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member
economies (not only member countries) that promotes free trade throughout the
Asia-Pacific region. Member countries include Australia, Brunei Darussalam,
Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, United States, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, People's
Republic of China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russian Federation
and Vietnam.
The highlight of the annual summit was the 23rd Economic Leaders' Meeting
(AELM) held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay on
November 18-19, 2015. Heads of government of all APEC members including US
President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev, Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto, and Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and Australian Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull are among the leaders who arrived in the country.
On this culminating event, the 30 APEC technical working groups
and committees (Senior Officials) endorsed action plans and statements to
Ministers and Leaders for adoption.
The Economic Leaders Meeting Declaration outlines new commitments for APEC
members to take forward over the coming year to build inclusive economies;
foster micro, small and medium enterprises participation in regional and global
markets; build sustainable and resilient communities; invest in human capital
development; and enhance the regional economic integration agenda.

APEC Leaders vow for building better economies during Declaration Meeting. Photo: APEC
website

The Declaration states that while achieving ongoing economic transformation

will not be easy, APEC Leaders are confident that APEC members will continue to
drive regional and global economic prosperity through quality economic growth,
as
supported
by
these
collective
commitments.
In the past couple of days, discussions also took on a broader approach to
discuss critical regional and global issues in the Asia-Pacific region such as
technological innovation and the challenges presented by the ever-changing
global
economic
milieu.
Throughout the year, representatives from all member economies held 229
meetings to advance individual economies and the region at large.
The following were discussed in various meetings throughout the year:
1. Boracay Action Agenda, which will help micro, small, and medium enterprises
access
the
global
and
regional
markets;
2. Cebu Action Plan, which will widen entrepreneurial access to financial
markets;
3. Finalization of the Renewed APEC Agenda for Structural Reform, which will
guide economies on which areas they need to reform to achieve sustained
growth;

4. Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, which recognizes the impact of climate

change on
our
region;
5. APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth, which will guide member
countries in undertaking robust, comprehensive, and ambitious structural
reforms
over
the
next
five
years;
6. and Leaders approval of the APEC Services Cooperation Framework. The
services sector is becoming a more important part of the economic equation. It
makes up approximately two-thirds of the GDP in the APEC region.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama joined Jack Ma of the Alibaba Group,
and Filipina engineer Aisa Mijeno in the discussions for the climate change issue
and how countries and leaders should act on it now. Jack Ma called for the
support and empowerment of the more than 10 million small businesses in the
world while Mijeno, the founder of a company who makes ecological lamps that
run on salt and water (SALt) emphasized that "climate change is real."
Here are the salient points on the partnerships with the member
economies as discussed in the Economic Leaders' Meeting:
1.

Mexico

will

help

the

Philippines

to

combat

drug

trafficking;

2. Philippines offered assistance in supporting Papua New Guinea agriculture

sector;
3. Strategic partnership with Vietnam and Australia for the defense, disaster risk
reduction,
and
food
security;
4. USA would be turning over to the Philippines a research vessel and a coast
guard
cutter
which
will
boost
the
capabilities
of
our
Navy.
5. Manila and Tokyo are working on a deal to transfer military equipment to the
country;
6. Agreement on the Establishment of a Philippine-Russia Joint Commission on
Trade and Economic Cooperation seeks to facilitate and promote trade and
economic
cooperation
between
the
two
countries;
7. Memorandum of understanding between Chile and Philippines on disaster risk
reduction
management
during
Bachelets
state
visit;
8. South Korea's support for the Philippines's military modernization program;
9. Colombia offered knowledge and experience in anti-insurgency and antiillegal
drugs
campaign;
10. Aquino and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key sought to expand

cooperation in the areas of electronics and electrical equipment, automotive,

information technology, business process management, engineering services,
infrastructure
and
public-private
partnership
projects.
A number of leaders also expressed their support
Trans-Pacific Partnership which will offer access to
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed support
accession to the United States-led Trans-Pacific
countries.

for the Philippines joining the

a far larger market. Canadian
to the Philippines possible
Partnership composed of 12

President Aquino thanked the Filipinos for the support on this event. "I am
grateful to our countrymen who have expressed their support for our hosting. All
my fellow leaders heaped praise on how our people have welcomed them, and
their
words
really
made
me
swell
up
with
pride."
On the other hand, several groups of activists staged protests on APEC Week all
over Metro Manila to demonstrate their appeal to junk APEC. With this, security
of the PNP was tightened or at maximum tolerance policy toward protesters.
Several netizens also expressed their disappointment over the inflicted traffic
caused
by
road
closures
in
some
areas
near
the
venue.
Reports said that more than 11,000 attended in the annual summit. Peru will
chair APEC throughout 2016 and host the 24th APEC Economic Leaders
Meeting.
__________________________--