I. OPENING STATEMENT AT THE MORNING SESSION
Dear friends, neighbors and colleagues in APEC, good morning.

We have brought you here because today’s Subic symbolizes for us Filipinos APEC’s own emergence.

Subic Bay was a Spanish arsenal and then an American base; now it is a regional hub of commerce and industry.

In June 1991, Mount Pinatubo erupted and covered this whole area and Clark Field with volcanic ashfall in what is now considered the world’s most destructive volcanic eruption in the past 70 years.

So, Subic Bay Free Port has literally risen from the ashes: an example of our people’s resilience; a manifestation of our economic resurgence; and our devotion to the works of peace.

So — my friends — welcome to Subic!
FOUR THEMES FLOWING ONE FROM THE OTHER
Let me first thank you all for your comments and suggestions on our leaders’ declaration. I hope you will be as generous with your comments as you were yesterday — so that we can discuss fruitfully our four themes this morning.

These themes flow one to the other.

First, we agreed that what has brought us together is the vision we share of an Asia-Pacific community.

Second, we are also united by our belief in the benefits of economic globalization.

Third, given that our approach is voluntary, and that we have minimal institutional frameworks, how can we sustain the impetus of the APEC process as it faces new challenges?

Fourth, one of the necessary instruments for promoting the spirit of community is the infrastructure that facilitates the movement of capital, goods, services, people and information across the region.

Speak as broadly and as informally as you please: speak as you do among friends.
DEFINING THE APEC VISION
Let me begin by explaining why I have proposed the first theme.

Over our past three meetings, we have touched on elements of our vision of community.

Now I hope we can come closer to defining that vision.

Mindful of traditional fears among our national constituencies, we had wisely refrained from specifying the characteristics of our envisioned community.

But now, with APEC well-established, the lack of a vision statement might soon begin to hinder its further progress.

Let us exchange views on how we can strengthen and deepen the sense of community among our peoples — so that subsequent summits can begin to take up modes of cooperation in mutual concerns wider than the economic.
THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZATION
The fact of globalization, all our economies face.

The real challenge is to gear our economies so that they can take full advantage of the opportunities arising from the emergent world economy.

It is crucial for APEC to sustain its dynamism without losing its informal and voluntary character.

Future chairs may wish to speak on how they see the APEC process — and the leaders’ meeting — evolving in a way that makes the entire APEC process more efficient, more effective, more productive.

Finally, we all recognize the importance of infrastructure in sustaining regional growth.

We must also recognize that public finance cannot fully meet the region’s enormous requirements in overhead capital.

Developing APEC economies alone will need to invest about US$1.5 trillion — over the next six years.

Private-sector investment must pitch in. But, right now, business accounts only for about 10 percent of total infrastructure investment. Ways must be found to mobilize private-sector resources more intensively.

Based on national experiences, there might be actions and initiatives we in APEC can undertake collectively — to meet this challenge on the short term.

On this rough outline of the four themes, we can now begin our discussion. I propose we first tackle our vision of community in the Asia-Pacific region.

Who shall start the ball rolling?
II. OPENING STATEMENT AT AFTERNOON SESSION
I hope you all enjoyed lunch. Let us now return to our exchange of views — which has thus far been productive.

[The president recaps the main points raised in the morning session.]

The floor is now open for your thoughts on the themes the discussion of which we had not fully exhausted this morning.