USeP Hosts APEC Information roadshow

Administrators, faculty and students from the academic institutions in Davao City and representatives from some government agencies gathered at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) on March 3 to participate in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 101. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has selected USeP to host theAPEC 101: Awareness and Information Roadshow.
The Roadshowaims to reach out to students across the country and share with them what is in store during the APEC 2015 Philippine Host Year, and what this means to the Filipino people.
Dr. Perfecto A. Alibin, USeP President, welcomed the participants and challenged the students to take their future into their own hands by helping raise the standards of living as what the APEC had envisioned. He also urged them to start it today by taking the APEC 101 Roadshow seriously and voicing out their ideas and plans as the future leaders.
The welcome remarks was followed by the presentation of Hon. Laura Q. del Rosario, Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, DFA, who talked about raising the awareness of the Philippines’ APEC hosting, the APEC 101 Campaign, which is designed to elevate the public’s understanding of APEC as an organization, and the Philippines’ role in APEC.She also pointed out the benefits from the Philippines’ APEC membership, particularly in terms of economic growth and development. APEC’s three pillars focus on trade and investment liberalization, business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation.
Hon. Del Rosario further stressed about the mismatch of skills of the graduates to the current job opportunities. She noted that in order to address such issues, the students should be trained for jobs that do not exist yet.
During the open forum, students and faculty from different universities and colleges were able to raise their questions and concerns regarding APEC and what it can do to help the Philippines. The healthy discussion was concluded by Dr. Marcelo M. Angelia, USeP Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The APEC 101 campaign is being done in the key cities of the country. Among the participating schools are Brokenshire College, University of Immaculate Conception, Rizal Memorial College, Davao Doctor’s College, Assumption College of Davao, The Philippine Woman’s College of Davao, and San Pedro College. The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) also participated on the campaign.