RI introduces human resource development draft

RI introduces human resource development draft

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Indonesia introduced yesterday a draft
declaration on human resource development for the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC), which will be proposed to the
forum's ministerial meeting in Jakarta in November.

The declaration, submitted at the opening of the third APEC
Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) here, is aimed at promoting human
resource development as a vital contribution to enhancing trade
and investment for economic growth in the region.

"In the declaration we shall introduce the basic ideas for
cooperation in this field," the SOM chairman, Wisber Loeis, said
prior to opening the three-day meeting.

The Third SOM is a series of four meetings designed to prepare
proposals to be discussed at the APEC Ministerial Meeting.

APEC groups Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, China,
South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) -- Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines
and Indonesia, which currently presides over the forum.

"Compared to the previous SOMs and the one we shall have later
on, the third SOM is the most important," remarked Wisber, who is
also the director general of foreign economic relations at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Wisber, the current meeting will deal with
several substantial issues.

"We shall be preparing the agenda for the ministerial
meeting," he said, adding that the meetings will also begin
preparing a joint ministerial statement.

Though yet to be fully discussed, the draft declaration for
human resource development is expected to be approved by the SOM
at the end of their meeting tomorrow and forwarded to the APEC
ministers in their November meeting.

Considered among the most central points of human resource
development is the enhancement of the quality of managers and
trainers in crucial economic sectors such as training in small
and medium scale enterprises.

Also important is the reduction of unemployment through the
lessening of skill deficiencies by creating programs for
application at all stages of a person's work life.

Wisber said that due to time constraints, a preliminary
discussion on the declaration took place yesterday. The SOM will
continue deliberating the draft declaration today.

Consensus

The end of the first day's proceedings ended in high spirits
for many here yesterday as delegates were finally able to achieve
a consensus on the transformation of the ad-hoc group on Economic
Trends and Issues into a committee.

Bali

The proposal had actually been introduced during the Second
SOM in Nusa Dua, Bali, but failed to overcome severe objections
from several delegates.

The news of the consensus came as a surprise to many outside
the meeting hall since it was widely known that Malaysia was
opposed to the idea in the Committee and Working Group meetings
preceding the SOM.

In defense of their objections, Malaysia's delegates said at
the time that they feared the establishment of the ad-hoc working
group into a committee would merely duplicate work that could be
done by other established committees.

Wisber would not reveal much, saying that the matter was
resolved after a comprehensive clarification of the function of
the new committee.

Among other points discussed yesterday were cooperation in the
improvement of commercial and public infrastructure and the
report of the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI).

The SOM will continue discussions today with the report from
the Asia Pacific Business Network (APB-Net) and participation of
the business sector.