APEC Philippines 2015

APEC Philippines 2015 is the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
meetings in the Philippines, which will culminate with the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting from
1819 November 2015 in Manila.[1] It marks the second time the Philippines is playing host to
the APEC, having hosted the event previously in 1996.

Attendees
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is scheduled to represent his country in
an observer status in the Economic Leaders' Meeting.
A week prior to the Economic Leaders' Meeting, Russian President Vladimir
Putin and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, both of whom had initially announced their
attendance, decided not to attend in the occasion citing their attendance to address
domestic issues, particularly the ongoing investigation of Metrojet Flight 9268 and
the 2015 Southeast Asian haze, respectively. Putin will be represented by former Russian
President, now Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev who was also scheduled to visit other
Southeast Asian countries. Widodo will be represented by his trade minister and Vice
President Jusuf Kalla.
This will be the first APEC meeting for Australian Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since their inaugurations on 15
September 2015 and 4 November 2015, respectively.[6][7]
In November 15, 2015, Chile President Michelle Bachelet was the first Head of State that
arrived in the Philippines for the Leaders meeting.

Importance of APEC 2015

Hosting Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2015 allows Australia to
assume a key coordination and agenda-setting role. As host, Australia will chair most
major meetings, set the annual themes and priorities, and drive substantial elements of
the APEC work programme. This provides Australia with a valuable opportunity to set the
future direction of the APEC organization and to pursue important trade and foreign
policy goals.
As leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies gather
in Manila for the second time after 19 years they will visit an economy that is about 3
times larger and to be hosted by a leader now seeking to spread the regions prosperity
to micro entrepreneurs and poor farmers. (READ: Making region MSME-friendly could be
APEC 2015's major success)
Over the years, the Philippines took advantage of the freer markets around the
region. The eagerness of booming economies to open up their markets to developing
countries, like the Philippines, is somehow linked to the country's major growth drivers
remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the burgeoning business process
outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Kristine Joy C. del Carmen

8-Mendel

AP-8

11/23/15