Philippines to serve as APEC Architect Central Council Secretariat 2009-2010
August 8, 2008
The Republic of the Philippines will serve as Council Secretariat of the APEC Architect Central Council for the period 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile, the Central Council approved that the 2010 Fourth Central Council meeting would take place in the Republic of the Philippines and that the 2012 Fifth Central Council meeting would take place in New Zealand.
Excerpt from the Meeting Summary of the 3rd APEC Architect Central Council Meeting (source here)
9.3 – Acceptance to the Schedule of Rotation for Monitoring Committees to act as Secretariat.
The Chair reminded the Central Council that at Mexico’s meeting a system for the rotation of the Secretariat by the member Economies was proposed, and although the schedule was generally accepted by the Council as a notional timeframe only, and it was acknowledged that the commitments made by delegations were not binding on any economy. But at this meeting it is important to have a schedule of rotation or system.
According to this chart, the next Secretariat may be the United States of America, which advised the Central Council that it is not able to take over the Secretariat in 2009 due to deep changes they are to be going through.
So it was proposed that the Central Council must receive commitments for the next two periods for Secretariat services that would give some confidence. After going around the table and having commitments for the future but not for the next term, Mexico was asked to consider a second term as Secretariat. Not having any volunteers Mexico agreed in general.
After a period of considerations between delegates of the economies, the Philippines decided to volunteer. Discussion on different aspects pertaining to the activities and duties to undertake went on until the Central Council, who welcomed the proposal, decided to approve the appointment of the Republic of the Philippines as Secretariat for 2009-2010.
The Chair moved on towards the rotating table set in the meeting in Mexico City, and according to it, the next term would be for New Zealand who accepted the appointment as Secretariat for 2011-2012.
Australia moves the possibility that the Secretariat and the economy to host the Central Council could be the same in order to facilitate the administration and organization that both activities need.
For that matter, New Zealand added that since the distance was a factor to them, and in order to have better control not only with the duties as Secretariat, but also in the activities and communication needed for the organization of the Central Council meeting, they look at this proposal to volunteer in organizing the event for 2012 acceptable. Both propositions were approved by the Central Council, the appointment to the Secretariat as well as the meeting for 2012 by New Zealand.
The Chair asked if this was also possible for the Philippines, to end their term as Secretariat by organizing the Central Council meeting for 2010, being accepted by them and approved by the Council.
The Republic of the Philippines and New Zealand advised the Central Council that they will require financial assistance for the operation of the Secretariat but would not charge a registration fee for Central Council meetings.
To end the discussions on this item, the rotating table was used once again, for which all economies were asked to introduce their possibilities to act as Secretariat for the Central Council. For historical reasons it was proposed to include who acted as Secretariats in the past, as well as Host economy to the Central Council meeting to have a complete scope.