MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III took pride on how the country hosted this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings.
In his speech after the APEC summit concluded on Thursday, Aquino said he is proud of the APEC agenda set by the Philippines which centered on inclusive growth.
"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," Aquino said.
Aquino said he is also proud because the country laid "the foundations on which APEC can chart a course to improve trade and strengthen quality growth."
The president thanked Filipinos for supporting the country's hosting of APEC.
"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," Aquino said.
"All my fellow leaders heaped praise on how our people have welcomed them, and their words really made me swell up with pride," he added.
Aquino said he and his fellow leaders agreed on overarching frameworks on regional economic growth and cooperation.
These frameworks include the APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth which will guide the region 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," Aquino said.
"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," he added.
The APEC Services Cooperation Framework, meanwhile, will help the services sectore thrive over the next decade, Aquino said.