ABAC: services sector to generate more jobs, bring growth to Apec

Apec Business Advisory Council chairperson Doris Magsaysay Ho cites manufacturing, agriculture and environment as service sectors with potential

BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan--Asia-Pacific business leaders are calling on the 21-member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) to adopt an open trade and investment regime in services, in an effort to generate growth and more jobs in the region.

Apec Business Advisory Council (ABAC) 2015 chair Doris Magsaysay Ho said service-related sectors, particularly manufacturing, agriculture and environment, have the potential power to spur inclusive growth in the AsiaPacific region.

“The services sector is the single biggest creator of jobs in the region, accounting for 60 percent of employment. It has become the most dynamic segment of international trade,” she said during the Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on services held here Sunday.

Ho noted that freer trade and investment in services offer business opportunities even to smaller companies, professionals and service providers who focus more on domestic markets.

Value-added

In the Philippines, she said, services in business process management, creative services, tourism, ship repair and fabrication, among others, have become key drivers of the country’s economic growth.

She also cited a report by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) indicating that the services sector accounts for 68 percent of value-added in the Asia-Pacific, making it the largest sector in the regional economy.

Ho said Apec member economies need to explore ways to seize new growth opportunities offered by the services sector.

Prelude

“The services sector are now at the center of a major business transformation in Apec, contributing more intensively to the value chains in manufacturing and agriculture and to the way business trades and invests,” she further said.

The PPD is a prelude to the first Regional Conference of Services Coalitions and Service Industries at the margins of the Third Apec Senior Officials’ Meeting in September in Cebu.

The PPD Series and the Regional Conference are organized in support of the proposed Apec Services Cooperation Framework, a Philippine initiative to guide the Apec’s collaborative work toward enhanced services competitiveness.