World’s hopes go with APEC Leaders as they meet here

INALLY, after months of planning and preparation, after protests and criticisms over traffic schemes that forced thousands to walk kilometers to work, after cancellations of hundreds of flights and declaration of no-sail and no-flight zones, after ramping up security in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, the 2015 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit opened yesterday at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Leaders of the 21 APEC economies are here for the annual meeting with the theme “Building Inclusive Economies. Building a Better World.” Two of the leaders – President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia – are unable to attend but they have sent their nations’ second highest officials.

A great deal of attention has been directed at two of the leaders – President Barack Obama of the United States and President Xi Jinping of China. They head the world’s two biggest economies today and they are pushing for two competing economic initiatives – the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) of the US and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) of China.

But it is their emerging rivalry in the South China Sea that may push aside economic concerns in the APEC meeting. The US and China have lately been exchanging barbs over China’s island reclamation activities which the US sees as a threat to freedom of international navigation. The Philippines and several other APEC members are also deeply involved in this maritime controversy – Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan – and it just might come up in the course of the Summit, although the Philippines, as host, has agreed to keep it off the agenda.

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris may also find their way into the APEC discussions, for no country can feel safe in the face of a determined enemy like the Islamic State. For this gathering of world leaders for the APEC Summit in Manila, security has been ramped up – to the point of paranoia, in the view of some critics. But nothing can be left to chance and we are determined that the 2015 Manila APEC meeting will be held with the greatest success and without any mishap befalling any of our guests.

Today in many areas of Metro Manila, security measures and restrictions are in place. We accept them as part of our national responsibility as host of this gathering of the highest officials of 21 world economies. The world’s hopes go with them in their deliberations and looks forward to decisions and agreements that they may reach in pursuit of the goal of building more inclusive economies and building a better world.