Ministers to launch separate plans for energy, financial resiliency

Energy and finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) economies will come up with separate frameworks for ensuring an energy- and financially resilient community when they meet in Cebu.

Finance ministers, who are set to meet here on Sept. 10–11, will launch the Cebu Action Plan, a road map proposed by the Philippines to make Asia-Pacific more financially inclusive and resilient.

A more inclusive economy, in the case of the Philippines, means having regulations that improve accessibility of credit to micro, small and medium enterprises. It also means an increase in allocations for social services.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas launched last month the national financial inclusion strategy, with the goal of providing all Filipinos access to the products and services of banks and other financial institutions.

The finance and central bank deputies are expected to fine-tune the Cebu Action Plan during their two-day meeting before the official launch during the Finance Ministers’ Meeting.

Energy ministers, meanwhile, will sign the Cebu Declaration when they meet in Cebu on Oct. 12–14.

“The key elements of the Cebu Declaration will revolve around energy resources, investments, clean technologies, resilient infrastructures, and regional standards for products and services,” Energy Undersecretary Loreta G. Ayson said in a recent briefing.

Among the issues to be threshed out is strengthening energy infrastructures against adverse climate change effects.

Ayson cited recent natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region that affected energy sources, such as the bushfires in Australia, flooding in the Andean Cusco region of Southern Peru, winter weather that hit Tennessee in the US last February, flash floods in Chile’s Atacama desert, coal mine flooding in China’s Shanxi province, forest fires in Russia’s Khakassia Republic in Southern Siberia, and strong earthquake in Japan’s Bonin Islands.

Other equally important topics include cutting edge energy efficiency technologies and ensuring these are available, community-based sourcing for poverty-stricken areas with inadequate supply of energy, and energy trade and investment.

The latest version of the Cebu Action Plan consists of four pillars, namely, financial integration, fiscal transparency and policy reform, financial resiliency, and infrastructure development and financing.