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Roundup: Preparations for APEC 2015 in Manila on track: official

Xinhua, July 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Preparations for the Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) scheduled in Manila in late November are on track, according to the APEC National Organizing Committee (NOC) here.

Marciano Paynor, APEC-NOC director general, said that all plans "have already been laid out."

Since last year, the APEC-NOC had been working to lay down all the necessary arrangements for APEC 2015 to ensure the safety and well-being of foreign dignitaries that would include heads of state who would attend the APEC meetings.

The Philippines expects all the leaders of the 21 member- economies of APEC, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM) from Nov. 18 to 19.

Last year, China hosted the 26th annual meeting of APEC leaders held in Beijing.

The Leaders' Declaration issued after the APEC 2014 in Beijing said bilateral, regional and multilateral trade agreements can play an important role in complementing global trade liberalization initiatives.

"We will continue to work together to ensure that they contribute to strengthening the multilateral trading system. We underscore the importance of the negotiations to expand the product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA)," the declaration said.

Focusing on inclusive growth, APEC 2015 would be the first such gathering held in the Philippines in nearly two decades.

According to Paynor, previous APEC meetings involved only trade and foreign affairs. "Now we have finance, agriculture, natural resources, energy, and higher education, among others," he said.

The Philippines, as APEC 2015 chairman, will host the Third APEC Senior Officials' Meeting and Related Meetings (SOM3) from Aug. 22 to Sept. 6 in Cebu City in Central Visayas.

Several other APEC-related meetings have been scheduled in different cities in the Philippines on the run-up to the APEC summit in November.

Paynor said Cebu City has been chosen for the last of the APEC SOM meetings because it has world-class hotels and venues for the meetings, adding that only "a few minor touches" are needed to make it 100-percent ready for the event.

Cebu City, the second largest city in the Philippines, has already experienced hosting international conferences such as the ASEAN Summit in 2007.

At least 3,200 delegates, including 19 heads of states from 21 economies, are expected to arrive in the country to attend the APEC Summit and related meetings in Manila.

APEC accounts for approximately 40 percent of the world's population, approximately 55 percent of world's gross domestic product (GDP), and about 44 percent of the total world trade. Endi