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)