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News Analysis: APEC finance ministers adopt new roadmap for Asia Pacific development

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Finance ministers of the 21 member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have adopted the Cebu Action Plan (CAP) as the new roadmap for development in the region.

The CAP is named after Cebu City, capital of the island province of Cebu in the central Philippines where senior APEC officials have been meeting for the past two weeks. Cebu City is the second largest city in the Philippines.

In his address at the opening of the two-day ministerial meeting on Thursday, President Benigno Aquino III welcomed the adoption of CAP, saying that it will integrate the region's financial sector while enhancing resiliency, fiscal transparency and infrastructure development.

Aquino also took note of how the CAP would"equip"APEC member economies with the ability to respond to"some of the gravest threats to our economies in the form of natural disasters, particularly those caused by the new normal of climate change."

Citing the impressive economic growth of the Philippines, Aquino said that his administration would ensure that this growth would be inclusive,"which is the paramount gauge of real growth."

Earlier, Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said that the CAP is"a roadmap for a more inclusive and resilient future" for the region.

The CAP was drafted by the Philippines with inputs from other APEC members, multilateral organizations and the private sector through the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). "Private sector participation is a crucial determinant of success and sustainability in any endeavor,"Purisima told the gathering.

Participants to the meeting included executives of multilateral financial institutions such as Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Standard Chartered Bank, Goldman Sachs, ING, Barclays Investment, Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC. Over 100 financial industry players were also represented in the gathering.

The formal launch of the CAP on Friday was the highlight of the APEC Finance Ministers'Meeting.

The roadmap will serve as a legacy of the Philippines for Asia Pacific, as it enjoys broad support from various APEC member economies. Peru, which will host APEC in 2016, has already expressed commitment to help champion the CAP.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran explained that the roadmap has four pillars, namely, financial integration, fiscal reforms and transparency, financial resilience, and infrastructure development and financing. "Despite being a driver of the global economy, Asia Pacific is vulnerable to risks. But with the measures proposed under the CAP, the region can be better guided on how to ensure sustainability and to improve inclusivity of growth in a coordinated manner," Beltran said.

The action plan will be approved by APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held in Manila from Nov. 18 to 19. This will be the second time that the Philippines hosts the APEC Summit following the first time in 1996.

The Manila government has announced that it has already invited the leaders of the 20 APEC economies to attend the Economic Leaders'Meeting that include Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a separate meeting in Cebu City, senior APEC ministers of trade called for the participation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the global trade to promote more exports, diversify products and increase productivity and competitiveness in the region. "MSMEs will be the next frontier of international trade growth. By enabling MSMEs to participate as direct exporters or as service providers in the global value chain, we are looking at increased trade flows globally, and we are optimistic that there will be more people who will benefit from trade,"said Department of Trade and Industry Assistant Secretary Ceferino Rodolfo.

According to Rodolfo, like many developing countries, the Philippines will need to work hard to achieve the integration of MSMEs in global trade.

He said that the meetings and dialogues held in Cebu City during the past two weeks have yielded specific, concrete and practical initiatives that APEC economies will implement to provide MSMEs wider opportunities to integrate into global or regional trade. Endi