ILOILO CITY, Dec. 3 (PIA6) — The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to be hosted by the Philippines in 2015 will focus on building inclusive economies to build a better world.
In a press briefing during the Climate Change Summit held Tuesday at the Iloilo Grand Hotel, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio “Sonny” B. Coloma Jr. said that President Benigno S. Aquino III has chosen “Building Inclusive Economies and Building a Better World” as the theme for APEC 2015.
“This is very appropriate because our own Philippine Development Plan is anchored upon the concept of inclusive growth,” he said.
He said that inclusive growth is seen to be a prerequisite to building a better world and we have a concrete basis.
“We believe that we have concrete achievements to demonstrate the efficacy of this program,” he said.
The PCOO Secretary said that the APEC hosting is going on full speed ahead and all the concerned agencies of government working in partnership with the private sector are determinedly pursuing their respective tasks and assignments.
“We can assure the delegates from all the member countries of APEC that we will be ready for these events and they will discover for themselves that indeed it is more fun in the Philippines,” he said.
He said that the APEC hosting will be a good opportunity to show what the Philippines and what the Filipinos are like.
“This is the second time the Philippines hosted APEC with the first one in 1996 which was eighteen years ago,” he said.
He said this is an opportunity to show our fellow APEC-member countries how much we have progressed and what are our contributions to building a stronger APEC.
Meanwhile, Iloilo City has been assigned to host two meetings by the APEC National Organizing Committee (NOC).
This city will host the Small Medium Enterprises (SME) on September 21-25, 2015 and the Food Security Week (High Level Policy Dialogue on Food Security and the Blue Economy) on September 28 to October 6, 2015. (JSC/LTP-PIA6 Iloilo)