Indonesia stamps its mark on APEC

Indonesia stamps its mark on APEC

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia asserted itself with their endorsement
of the declaration on human resources development, a concept
which it has helped promote and push into the forefront of the
forum's agenda during its one year leadership.

The declaration on the issue, also one main theme of
Indonesia's own long term development program, was endorsed at
the APEC ministerial meeting which concluded on Saturday.

"This is very important because the success of our cooperation
depends on human resources," said Indonesia's Coordinating
Minister of Industry and Trade Hartarto, who chaired the
conference.

According to Hartarto, the declaration will be used as an
umbrella for various programs to improve the quality of life of
the peoples in the Asia-pacific region.

"This is important because human resources not only cover the
business sector but also the educational," he said

"It even covers cultural exchanges" Hartarto added.

Attention to the development of human resources first came to
light when Indonesia, as host of this year's meeting, stipulated
it as one of the four main areas of concentration.

The other three are: infrastructure development, small and
medium enterprises and private sector participation.

However, significant work on the issue did not begin until the
third APEC Senior Officials Meeting in Yogyakarta last September.
At the time Indonesia proposed a declaration which would cater to
the improvement of people's skills, which has been rightly
identified as the greatest single asset to achieving economic
growth.

When the idea was first broached, other members gave strong
support to the draft declaration. That support was carried on to
the fourth SOM here which was held prior the Ministerial Meeting.

"China fully endorses Indonesia's proposal that APEC's
priority cooperation areas should be infrastructure building,
human resources development and small and medium enterprises,"
remarked Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen.

Among the priorities in this declaration are the improvement
of the quality of basic education and an analysis of the regional
labor market so that programs may be launched in congruence with
demands.

United States Secretary of State Warren Christopher
immediately followed up the idea with a proposal for an APEC
educational foundation. "It could serve as a coordinating point
for all of APEC's educational and human resources development
activities," he told his fellow ministers. "And it would
compliment the Ministers Declaration for a Human Resources
Development Framework," he added. (mds)