Protests against APEC summit in Manila

Inclusion and integration were the primary themes at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that concluded in Manila Thursday.

She said South Korea will help enhance the negotiation capacity of developing countries in forming free trade agreements and contribute to establishing a free trade zone in the Asia-Pacific region.

The joint declaration also stressed on preventing terrorism from undermining the values of free and open economies and called for more global cooperation to defeat it.

During the sidelines of APEC Leaders’ Meeting, the Philippine government through President Benigno Aquino III and his Cabinet was able to seal deals on military modernization, trade, strategic partnerships, cooperation in risk reduction, transportation, tourism, technical vocational training, health, anti-illegal drugs drive, avoidance of taxation and support for the overseas Filipino workers, among others with various APEC economy members.

The MSME agenda calls for a host of specific, concrete and practical interventions that Apec economies can implement to provide MSMEs wider opportunities to participate in the global market.

Terror attacks such as those against a Russian aircraft that killed 224 passengers are an area of cooperation that APEC should engage in, Medvedev said.

U.S. President Barack Obama earlier urged APEC member countries to invest in a “low carbon future”. The deal faces significant opposition from Congress, however. She opposes the trade pact because it does not do enough to protect American workers and jobs.

APEC’s final day also was marked by street protests that included the burning in effigy of a vulture in the colors of the US flag.

The Declaration ended with the commitment to hold the 24th APEC Summit in Peru in 2016 and from 2017 to 2022 in Viet Nam, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand respectively.

The Philippines would likely have to amend its constitution to allow a greater share to foreign investors in certain industries.

Yet, it is also important to maintain the balance and take care of all the countries’ interests and needs, and a feasible way would be gradually raising standards with all members’ participation, he added. The US and China are using their respective trade groupings to jockey for influence in Asia, the world’s most populous and fastest-growing region economically. He also offered veiled criticism of the U.S.-led TPP as being too restrictive and exclusionary.

The Chinese leader said “with various new regional free trade arrangements cropping up, there have been worries about that potential of fragmentation”.

Obama and many Southeast Asia nations attending the Manila trade talks will proceed onto Malaysia for a regional summit.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who replaced Putin at the summit in Manila, expressed his opposition to the TPP first-hand, saying trade rules needed to be drawn up within the framework of the World Trade Organization and not by regional blocs.

China is pointedly excluded from the TPP, part of Washington’s attempt to ramp up influence in the region with its “pivot” to Asia.