The Road to Building Inclusive Economies and Building a Better World

The Road to Building Inclusive Economies and Building a Better World

by Alliza Faye Palgan

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or what we know as APEC, has been exerting all its efforts to improve the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region by promoting trade and economic partnerships and at the same time addressing sustainability and social equality. For 25 years, with its 21 member economies working hand in hand, the Asia-Pacific region has soared and progressed.

                As we all know, APEC or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, was held here in Cebu for the past weeks. Having been assigned as a conference management services officer, particularly under the office of documentation, our main task is all about the preparation of documents that will be used during the meetings of the APEC economies. Being an International Relations and Foreign Service major and an APEC volunteer at the same time, our task does not only end on extending our service as volunteers but also involving ourselves in the discourse of the said event. Unfortunately, the expectations that I had imagined that I would be doing as a volunteer during the training days did not meet with what I really did during the APEC days. Volunteers that were assigned under documentation were somewhat isolated from what was happening outside, where the meetings took place. We only get to be inside the conference rooms if we were to deliver the documents we have prepared or get the documents we have delivered when the meetings end. We did not have a direct interaction with any of the delegates, except when we coincidentally ride the elevator and greet them. The only advantage that we had as part of the documentation team, in my own opinion was that, we can see and read the topics that are to be discussed during the meetings.

                With the APEC 2015 theme, "Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World," the topic that I would have liked to hear about during the meetings was that of the agenda on how to enhance the Regional Economic Integration. It would have been nice to hear about this since it is one of the main priorities of the Philippines to be discussed during the meetings.

                Unfortunately, due to the situation, I was unable to hear anything about this. What I managed to do instead was read the papers submitted by the delegates. One of the papers that caught my attention was the paper submitted by the APEC Secretariat. It was about the priorities and activities of the Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) this 2015 wherein it showcased the four priorities of APEC. The priority that it dwelled on the most was that of fostering the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in regional and global markets. It is because SMEs generate employment, catalyze inclusive growth and as well as serve as an engine of development. But a number of trade barriers could impede SMEs participation in the international trade in the APEC region including the problems of navigating various legal, regulatory and technical requirements.

                Having a collaboration with the SME working group (SMEWG), the SCSC endorsed a work plan that specifies the work streams that are to be pursued by the sub-committee. These are the following; exchanging information on packaging and labelling requirements, sharing standards and conformance learning materials; and organizing capacity building activities oriented to training businesses, especially SMEs, to improve their knowledge, expertise and skills on standards and conformance matters, including the conduct of public consultation. SCSC still has a lot of activities scheduled to improve the participation SMEs, as well as the other priorities of APEC, in order for them to achieve their ultimate goal which is to build a more inclusive economy to be able to have a better world.

                Even though I did not get to hear or witness any of the meetings that were conducted, being able to participate in an event that is of great importance to our country and also being able to leave a good impression on the economies that visited, that is already a great achievement for me. 678 words

Reference: Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2015, from http://www.apec.org/Groups/Committee-on-Trade-and-Investment/Sub-Committee-on-Standards-and-Conformance.aspx