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.