Philippines to focus on services sector in APEC 2015 hosting

CLARK, FREEPORT - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) hosted by the Philippines this year will focus on the services sector, the major vein that further integrates the 21 member economies in the region.

In her welcome speech at the start of the first APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM1) in Clark, Pampanga, Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura Del Rosario said the APEC member economies will continue the discussions during the public-private dialog on services started in Surabaya in 2013.

"Services will be the main focus of our host year, because we think that services really form part of the connectivity aspects of the Asia Pacific," she said.

Earlier this week, the Philippines held the first public private dialogue (PPD) on services at the margins of the APEC SOM1 also at Clark.

The PPD on services sought to guide and engage with APEC's public and private stakeholders in the following areas:

Examining developments, challenges and opportunities, and identifying new strategies for building the full potential of the services sector;
Generating policy options toward removing barriers to services trade;
Developing an innovative approach in pursuing the services agenda of APEC;
Fostering collaboration and best practice exchanges to promote services growth in the APEC region.

The first PPD on services covered information technology and business process management, creative industries, and research and development services.

The dialogue tackled latest trends and developments in services, which has long been recognized by APEC as an important driver of global economy.

"The time is right for services to be put on the APEC agenda," remarked keynote speaker Jane Drake-Brockman of the International Trade Center. "Services play a critical role in Global Value Chains (GVC) development and cooperation as defined in APEC, taking into account the perspectives of small and medium enterprises as they strive to maximize participation in the GVC."

Among the key issues discussed was the effects of new technologies like high speed internet and cloud computing to the services landscape.

The second PPD will still focus on services, but this time, as it is relevant to the goods sector. It will be held at the margins of the APEC SOM2 this May in Boracay.