MANILA -- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies should pay close attention to challenges confronting the region's services sector, particularly shipping and logistics services, which serve as the backbone of global trade and investment, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Friday.
"Shipping and logistics services are the backbone of global trade and investment and yet, we have not paid them ample attention," President Marcos said in his intervention during the APEC Leaders' Informal Dialogue.
To illustrate his point, the President cited the case of the Philippines were businesses absorb up to 30 percent of costs from logistics alone and has one of the highest rates in the region.
"With logistics being a pivotal part of supply chains, this limits the integration of our products in global value chains and cuts our access to critical raw materials," Marcos said.
As a remedy, the President called on governments to eliminate all forms of discrimination, especially for products coming from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), adding there are ways to address non-trade and other related measures without depriving businesses and MSMEs of access and participation in supply chains.
There's a need to work with businesses, especially MSMEs, Marcos said, to improve their capacity and implement reforms that would foster a competitive environment.
"We look to this forum as a platform to share best practices," President Marcos said. "By ensuring that our MSMEs participate in global supply chains, we will have diversified our supply sources, we will have enhanced sustainable and inclusive growth, and strengthened the competitiveness of our economies," he pointed out.
Moreover, the Philippine leader highlighted the essential role of maritime crew, the maritime industry, and the transport sector in ensuring robust and resilient global supply chains and post-pandemic recovery.
Further discussions and cooperation are needed in these areas, Marcos said, as he called on his counterparts to capacitate every member economy to address the challenges and needs of this sector and these essential workers. (PND)
