The 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit will be held in Metro Manila because it is the only place that can accommodate 10,000 people, said Undersecretary Laura del Rosario of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“APEC is the Wedding of the Century” and everybody wants to attend, said Del Rosario, who also chairs the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) this year.
Classes and work in most government offices, as well as most commercial flights to and from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), have been suspended from November 17 to 20 for top-level APEC meetings.
Previous to the November meetings are topical APEC meetings on health, disaster risk reduction, finance, micro/small/medium enterprises, etc. held in various places around the country including in Cebu, Boracay, and Bohol.
Since November last year, the Phlippines has hosted eight ministers’ meetings and 120 working group meetings that were attended by some 7,000 people.
APEC consists of 21 member economies that touch the Pacific Ocean. They are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam.
The APEC meetings include the SOM on November 13-14, the ministers’ meetings on November 16-17, and the leaders’ summit on November 18-19. (PCOO-APEC Communications Group)