DUMAGUETE CITY, March 17 (PNA) -– Hundreds of students from various schools in Dumaguete City attended Monday afternoon a briefing on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in cooperation with Silliman University.
DFA Undersecretary for International Economic Affairs Laura del Rosario spoke about “The Philippines in APEC” at the Luce Auditorium of Silliman University as part of the ongoing APEC 101 Information Roadshow.
Del Rosario clarified that APEC is not ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) even as she admitted that as people are talking about ASEAN economic integration, she is “not worried about that” because “we should be more than ready to do our job well”.
She, however, highlighted the need for the Philippines to gear up to be globally competitive as APEC looks toward building “inclusive economies” across the Asia-Pacific region.
This year, the Philippines is hosting the APEC after almost two decades since 1996.
Giving a backgrounder about APEC, she said it is made up of 21 member economies, with only ten coming from the ASEAN.
Also, there are higher standards for APEC memberships, she added.
APEC is based on the assumption that everything in this world happens on global trade and “I think this is something that we are afraid of”, said Del Rosario as she spoke to an audience comprised mostly of students.
People would begin to think of how they can compete upon learning that goods coming from other countries will be brought in to the Philippines, she said.
On the other hand, Del Rosario also noted that the country must also be competing in terms of trading with other economies.
Many people do not realize that globalization has happened 450 years ago and in fact, this year, the world will be celebrating 450 years of the galleon trade, she pointed out.
The galleon trade back then passed by Manila, being a part of the Spanish colonial empire, into Mexico and the goods went all the way to Europe where the Spaniards were based, Del Rosario added.
She cited potatoes as an example of globalized food that many people did not know originated in Boliva or Peru but are closely associated with the United States or France for the popular “French fries”.
“Chicharon”, a famous Filipino food generally made of pork rind, is also known in many other countries with Spanish influence, such as Mexico, Del Rosario went on to say.
Undersecretary del Rosario highlighted in her briefing APEC’s three pillars, namely, trade and investment liberalization, business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation.
Del Rosario emphasized the need to strengthen these areas to allow economies to be globally competitive as well as for communities to be able to “survive financial and economic disaster”.
She also underscored the importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which comprise 97 to 98 percent of business registered in the Philippines. (PNA)