World leaders and senior business figures are gathering in the Vietnamese city of Danang this week for the annual 21-member APEC summit. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / HOANG DINH Nam
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte called on rich countries to help poorer economies in this era of globalization so that more people would reap the benefits of economic development.
In his keynote speech at the APEC CEO Summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, Duterte said “globalization, to a certain extent, has really damaged poor economies.”
This is why APEC and the ASEAN should take into consideration the interests of developing and poor economies by improving their capacity-building mechanisms, he said.
“Unless it is done, that you have to educate the others who are left behind, and teach him the digital age, the advantages of it, they will remain where they are,” he explained in an answer to a question from the audience.
Duterte said globalization has to be addressed and it should start in APEC and ASEAN.
Hopefully next week or when I go home I just – one day break and we start the discussions again. I will bring this matter forcefully in the ASEAN Summit,” the Philippine president and current chair of the ASEAN said.
“We have to have integration, cohesiveness, and we must act as one. If Europe can do it with its union and America is starting to revive its industries, why can’t we, the ASEAN, do it,” he added.
-Increasing opportunity for growth-
President Duterte said that to “unleash the full potential of globalization,” it is important to create an “inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity for growth.
“This can be achieved through the promotion of competition, complementation, cooperation among business. Another solution is the adoption of policies that would allow developing countries to get a larger share of the global value chain,” ,” he told the APEC
audience in his address entitled Regional Economic Integration – Lessons Learnt from ASEAN.”
He cited the experience of the ASEAN region, with a combined population of more than 600 million people, which is now the third largest economy in Asia and the seventh in the world.
“We would like to work with you not only to pursue growth through regional economic integration, but also to forge a more humane world characterized by shared peace and optimism in the future,” he added.
(Eagle News Service)