Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario, chairperson of the Senior Officials meetings (SOM) addresses APEC delegates at the Radisson Blu Hotel. (CDN Photo/Junjie Mendoza)
Senior officials of 21 member countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) started the two-day Third Senior Officials’ (SOM3) meeting yesterday in Cebu with an eye to expanding to new areas of inclusive, sustainable growth.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario, SOM3 chairperson, said the meeting which runs until today continues matters taken up in SOM2 that was held in Boracay last May.
“(We will) pick up from where we left off in SOM2 to cover significant ground and step up discourse along the lines of inclusive growth,” she told fellow senior officials at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City yesterday.
Earlier in her speech, the undersecretary likened the work of APEC in finding “new routes” to achieving sustainable growth to how Ferdinand Magellan chartered a route to the Philippines five centuries ago.
In 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in search of the Spice Islands in the Strait of Malacca and also to prove the possibility of reaching the Far East by sailing westward.
Vision
Against great odds in 1521, his party reached the island of Cebu and a group of islands that would later be known as Las Filipinas, named after King Philip II of Spain.
“Today in APEC, we also work tirelessly to find new routes toward achieving sustainable growth and development. We hope that the vision of inclusive growth will become our ‘north star’ as we go forward with our meetings,” del Rosario said.
Del Rosario said the group of officials will also tackle problems like moving the direction of services which has grown steadily in recent years.
Cebu hosted more than 80 technical working group meetings since Aug. 22 for SOM3.
In a press briefing last Friday, del Rosario said everything that was discussed during the small meetings among the 2,000 delegates will be reported during the SOM3 meeting.
SOM3 will serve as the culmination of these proceedings and a venue for APEC initiatives to be translated into measures, programs and structures which address the concerns that people contend with on a daily basis.
It will build on the outcomes of a cluster of technical exchanges under 20 APEC working-level policy groups and consider inputs from the APEC Business Advisory Council, official APEC observers, and other partner bodies.
“With this in mind, we must be resolute that our efforts to improve the lives of our people cannot be stifled by our fears,” said del Rosario.
Recommendations reached by APEC senior officials from the meeting will be presented before the ministers and economic leaders in the coming months.
Cebu province will host the Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting tomorrow, Sept. 7 to Tuesday, Sept. 8, followed by the Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting from Sept. 10-11.
The Transportation Ministerial Meeting will be held on Oct. 8 to 10 while the 12th APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting will be on Oct. 13 to 14.
This will culminate in the APEC Leaders’ Summit in November to be hosted by President Benigno Aquino III.