SOM2 and related meetings conclude second working day

PANO – The second working day of the second APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM2) and related meetings on May 10 featured meetings of the Policy Partnership of Women and Economy (PPEWE), the Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG) in collaboration with the APEC Group of Friends on Disability Issues (GoFD), the Mining Task Force (MTF), the Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC), the Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF), the Partnership Training Institute Network (PTIN) and the Automobile Dialogue (AD).

The Export Certificate Workshop

As for the PPWE’s meeting, which took place on May 9-10, participants focused on the issues related to women’s participation in economic development; promotion of the integration of gender equality in all APEC expertise areas. The meeting also identified priorities for action, policy recommendations, and preparations of contents for the APEC Women and the Economy Forum to be held in upcoming September.

At present, there are about 600 million women in the labor forces of the APEC economies. As estimated by the United Nations, restriction in women’s participation in the labor force causes the Asia-Pacific region to lose about USD 89 billion a year. In this context, in 2011 the PPWE was established and is now one of the important mechanisms of APEC working to achieve the goal of empowering and enhancing the participation and contribution of women to the economy.

Participants at the PPWE’s meeting

At the opening session of the Public Private Dialogue of the MTF, participants discussed three main themes: strengthening mining cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region; innovation-based growth; social responsibility and common development. Delegates affirmed the fact that mining may play an important role in promoting socio-economic development, job creation, poverty reduction, infrastructure improvement and narrowing the development gap in the Asia Pacific region.

The MTF plenary session was then held in the afternoon of the day, evaluating the outcomes of the workshop themed “Closure Checklist for Governments” held the previous day and the Public Private Dialogue held on the morning and setting out the MTF working plan for 2017.

The HRDWG and the GoFD co-hosted a symposium on promoting the employment of persons with disabilities. At the symposium, participants discussed in depth laws and regulations on providing favorable conditions for persons with disabilities to get easy access to education and training and facilitating them to integrate into the society. They shared experiences in creating jobs and development opportunities for persons with disabilities.

Participants in the Export Certificate Workshop, co-organized by the SCSC, the FSCF and the PTIN, closed the second working day. The workshop informed that the facilitation of trade in safe food and cooperation in improving food safety is one of the issues to be discussed at the APEC 2017 Food Security Week to be held in Can Tho City this August.

The same day, the partners joining the AD also held bilateral meetings before a plenary session takes place on May 11-12.

Reported by Huu Duong