CEBU, Philippines - At least nine finance ministers from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation have confirmed to attend the Finance Ministers' Meeting in Cebu next week, the Department of Finance said yesterday.
In a message to The FREEMAN, the Office of the Finance Secretary said that while nine have so far confirmed, all APEC economies will have official representatives -- either deputy or another authorized official.
"Thus all 21 economies are confirmed to attend the Finance Ministers' Meeting in Cebu," the message read.
The Finance Ministerial Meeting is happening on September 9-11 at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.
The DoF is expecting around 180 delegates to the meeting from the 21 APEC nations and multilateral institutions and more than 100 delegates from the private sector.
Cap launching
One of the highlights of the three-day meeting is the launching and approval of the Cebu Action Plan, a 10-year development road map drafted by the Philippines for the APECregion.
In an earlier interview about the CAP, Finance Assistant Secretary Maria Edita Tan said the four-pillar road map has gained broad support from finance officials of Apec nations.
Tan said they had done a lot of consultations with APEC members IM the crafting of the development road map.
The CAP aims to achieve four goals namely financial integration, financial resiliency, fiscal transparency and infrastructure development and financing.
The action plan sets long-term reforms that APEC economies should undertake to achieve its objectives.
One of the long-term goals of CAP is to ensure that small and medium enterprises get enough credit access to make them grow and participate in regional and global trade.
The Finance meeting next week will cap the APEC’s Finance Ministers' Process, designed to be the venue for officials to discuss various economic and financial issues and policy priorities that member economies should look into.(FREEMAN)