BBM BACK FROM APEC MEET
PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is back in the country after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand.
Marcos, along with several Cabinet members and delegates, arrived at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on Saturday night.
The three-day summit gave Marcos the opportunity to put forward the country’s stance on pressing global issues, as well as its plans, including post-pandemic recovery, with fellow leaders in the region and other heads of state.
Marcos had bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, French President
Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the sidelines of the summit.
The President also had the chance to invite business leaders to do business in the country.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the President’s participation in the APEC Summit has been successful so far, with the Chief Executive leading the Philippine delegation in tackling trade and investment opportunities while seeking to realize mutual prosperity.
“We certainly expressed support for Thailand’s hosting and for Thailand’s priorities. And most of the statements coming from the leaders actually align and parallel [with] the President’s pronouncements as well,” Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Eric Tamayo said during a press briefing in Bangkok on Friday.
Tamayo said Thailand has put forward the “Bangkok Goals on BCG Economy” as a vital deliverable under the APEC 2022’s priority areas to accelerate efforts toward sustainability.
“Our people are hard at work in finalizing a Joint Ministerial Statement and also working on the Leaders’ Declaration. Not to mention also a Priority Statement on the Bangkok Goals of the BioCircular-Green (BCG) Economy model,” he said.
The DFA official said this particular declaration is “something unique for APEC and for the outcomes of APEC Economic Leaders if we compare to previous declarations.”
“This is indeed a separate undertaking by the leaders and underscores the importance of having a collaborative platform on climate change action, including net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, facilitating sustainable trade and investment, sustainable management of resources, the conservation of the environment and biodiversity, and resource efficiency and sustainable waste management,” Tamayo said.
In his intervention at the APEC Retreat Session Friday, Marcos said the model is aligned with his administration’s agenda to create green and quality jobs.
The Philippines also has the unique opportunity to leverage the tools of sustainability to improve the resilience of people and businesses, he said, citing the country’s adoption of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap, which lays out a whole-of-government approach to promote sustainable finance and green policies.
Marcos also noted that the current socioeconomic priorities of his administration include the immediate implementation of the Green Jobs Act; the establishment of the green jobs certification system and incentive schemes; the development of the green workforce; and the issuance of green bonds for its infrastructure program.
The final draft of the economy model, dubbed the “Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green Economy,” is set to be endorsed by the 21 APEC member economies during the 29th edition of the summit.
The BCG economy model will serve as a roadmap for APEC sustainability and inclusive development with a focus on four key areas — climate change mitigation, sustainable trade and investment, environmental conservation, and waste management.
APEC remains one of the Philippines’ prime platforms to engage the economies in the Asia-Pacific region, the President earlier said.
Pacific Rim economies host 38 percent of the world’s population, 48 percent of regional trade and 62 percent of its gross domestic product.
It also has the largest concentration of overseas Filipino workers, with the Philippine regional trade accounting for 85 percent, which provides Filipino consumers access to goods and services from the region.
At the same time, it also gives Filipino farmers, laborers, businessmen and MSMEs export markets for their goods and services in the region.
Marcos ‘cheerleader’
Meanwhile, Speaker Martin Romualdez on Saturday said former president, now Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was satisfied with Marcos’ performance in his initial outing at APEC Summit.
“You could see GMA there literally cheering him on, and we would see how delighted she was with his performance and the crowd itself was applauding our President for his very, very clear-cut answers, and very incisive,” Romualdez said.
He was referring to the panel discussion in the APEC CEO Summit where World Economic Forum founder Professor Klaus Schwab and Robert Moritz, Global chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd., were seen nodding in agreement with the points raised by Marcos.
Romualdez said Marcos established rapport with fellow heads of economies in the region following his bilateral meetings with the leaders of China, Saudi Arabia and France, and his interactions during the APEC Summit.
“In his first ever face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Marcos deftly handled the situation by focusing on common interests of the two countries, which set a cordial atmosphere that led to an agreement to further deepen bilateral relations,” Romualdez noted.
“Considering these successful diplomatic initiatives and investment pledges the President secured from Thai business, we can definitely say that his participation in the APEC Summit is a resounding success,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez noted that the conglomerate CP Group, Thailand’s largest private firm with a $2 billion investment in the Philippines, has pledged to make additional investments in the country in aquaculture, rice, and swine production.