At the weekly Cabinet meeting today, Premier Jiang Yi-huah instructed government agencies to get a head start on next year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit by focusing on cooperation projects with the Philippines, host of the 2015 event.
Jiang remarked that the Philippines' priorities include building human resources, developing small and medium-sized enterprises, preparing for natural disasters and improving health care—all of which are strong suits for Taiwan. APEC collaboration in these areas will reinforce Taiwan's ties with its neighbor, make way for new business opportunities, and spread Taiwan's technologies abroad.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Executive Yuan Office of Disaster Management, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare should begin planning initiatives and drafting proposals for next year's summit, Jiang said.
The premier also heard a wrap-up report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Taiwan's participation at the 2014 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Beijing. For the November 10-11 event, Former Vice President Vincent Siew represented Taiwan at the head of a delegation comprising the MOFA and other ministries.
The premier thanked the agencies involved for a successful mission and asked the MOFA to help other agencies follow up on the discussions that took place between the former vice president and other leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
APEC is an important platform for promoting international and bilateral cooperation, Premier Jiang said. Taiwan should continue using this platform to strengthen trade ties with its major trading partners and integrate into the regional economy. Taiwan should also diligently plan its participation in the collective strategic study for the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific initiative that was approved at this past APEC event.
The theme of the 2014 summit was "Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership." Major topics of discussion included advancing regional economic integration; promoting innovative development, economic reform and growth; and strengthening comprehensive connectivity and infrastructure development.