Climate change ‘overarching’ concern at APEC

MANILA, Philippines — Climate change was the “overarching” concern among world leaders at the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, President Marcos said upon his return to the country late Saturday night.

Marcos arrived at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at around 10:39 p.m. Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte led the heads of agencies who welcomed the President and members of his official delegation.

“The overarching global concern for everyone is and should be global – the climate change issues that are coming,” Marcos said in his arrival speech.

“Every discussion that we had, you can talk about the economy, you can talk about geopolitics, you can talk about anything. You go into detail – you can talk about fisheries, you talk about governance, you can talk about anything. And the subject of climate change will make itself felt,” he said.

“And so again, this is something that we all seem to have realized and we have come together to do – to try to mitigate,” he added.

While various agreements relating to climate change adaptation have been sealed in the past, the Chief Executive said APEC countries have admitted that “there’s very little that has been actually done.”

Marcos earlier urged APEC to address climate change, “the greatest existential threat” affecting the region. The regional economic bloc can and should contribute to a trade and investment environment that assists economies in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, facilitating climate financing and ensuring genuine and effective technology transfer for the most vulnerable developing countries, he said.

The President described his participation at the 29th APEC Leaders’ Meeting as a “very useful and productive process.”

“One of the most important things at least for me was – the reason I thought that I must attend these conferences is that I know now – I have spoken to, I have discussed many issues with all the leaders of our region, of the Asia Pacific. So they now know me and they know what I’m about – we have discussed things. They know what the Philippine position is on several issues,” the President said.

The two-day APEC summit was attended by the 21 member economies – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Marcos was also able to meet with leaders of Australia, China, Canada, France, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia, among others on the sidelines of the summit.

“The bilateral meetings that are held on the side of the actual summit, the bilateral meetings are for us to forge stronger relations with different countries up to, as I said once again, France, President (Emmanuel) Macron was there and we had a very fruitful discussion. And Canada, which is as you would think was very far away, but nonetheless has involved itself very much in the APEC,” he said.

He also cited the agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to pay some 10,000 overseas Filipinos employed by construction companies, which declared bankruptcy.

“We were even able to get an agreement from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the payment of claimants who were not paid because the pandemic bankrupted their employer. So that is a tangible thing that was as a result of bilateral (meetings),” he said.

Marcos added there are agreements that the Philippines is going to pursue with Canada and France.

Before flying to the Philippines, Marcos met the Filipino community in Bangkok, whom he described as a “very enthusiastic crowd.”

“We had a very enthusiastic crowd and as ever, it was – after all the serious and very important discussions, it was a breath of – it’s always a breath of fresh air to spend time with fellow Pinoys around the world,” he said.

There are more than 30,000 Filipinos in Thailand, mostly working as English teachers and employees in the kingdom’s hospitality industry.