HANOI – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to this city not to preach discipline but to sing its praises to Filipinos workers in Vietnam.

During a dialogue with members of the Filipino community in Vietnam Friday night, the President said the Vietnamese culture of discipline and unity are strong forces that continue to fuel their country’s scintillating leap towards economic prosperity only a few years after a ruinous war that lasted for 30 years.

In a message apparently beamed to people back home in the Philippines, the President said Vietnam could not have attained rapid progress without the much-admired discipline and unity of its people.

The Chief Executive arrived here Friday for the 14^th annual meeting of heads of state of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Her first order of business here was to meet with the Filipino community in Vietnam barely an hour after her arrival. There are roughly 1,000 Filipino skilled workers in Vietnam most of them engineers, teachers, accountants, architects and health workers

From a war-devastated economy, Vietnam is on its way of carving out the economic miracle that has eluded many other countries. Its 8 percent growth rate is the second highest in the region, second only to that of China’s.

This only shows to all and sundry that like the Chinese, the Vietnamese are also reaping the rewards of discipline, the President said.

"Maybe it’s time that we, Filipinos, emulate the Vietnamese discipline that we sorely need to move our country forward like other progressive nations of the world," she added. "The Vietnamese experience tells us that the Philippines can attain rapid progress under a culture of discipline."

The President said that numerically, Filipinos in Vietnam may be fewer than their countrymen working in Hong Kong and Singapore, "but your influence and impact on your host country far outweigh your number."

She expressed elation over reports that Filipinos here are well liked by the Vietnamese for their contribution to the host country.

The Chief Executive also paid tribute to Philippine-Vietnamese relations which date back to the Spanish era. Centuries ago, Philippine merchant ships would dock at the old port town of Hoi An to bring home high-grade silk, porcelain and other Vietnamese merchandise, which were then shipped to the New World through the Galleon Trade.

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HANOI---The Asia-Pacific Business Advisory Council (ABAC) submitted yesterday its recommendations on six areas that would further improve economic relations among the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

In their meeting after the opening of the 14^th APEC Leaders’ Summit at Hanoi’s National Convention Center Saturday afternoon, the economic leaders and the ABAC also agreed that constant dialogue between the leaders and the business community is necessary to maintain sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.

The ABAC recommendations include measures necessary to facilitate the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, a Free Trade Agreement for Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), energy, security, development of small and medium enterprises and technological cooperation.

The Council said it is necessary to increase economic and technical cooperation along with liberalizing trade and investment in order to further promote a mutually beneficial multilateral trading system.

The ABAC, a permanent group composed of up to three senior business representatives from each member economy, provides advice on the implementation of the APEC action plans and on other special concerns of the business sector.

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HANOI -- Heads of state of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum have sounded an urgent call for the immediate resumption of the deadlocked World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.

In a statement issued last night at the end of their first meeting at the National Convention Centre (NCC) in the outskirts of Hanoi, the APEC leaders said "we have an urgent need to break the current deadlock and to put the negotiations back on a path towards a timely conclusion."

The Doha Round of WTO talks collapsed in July due to disagreements between rich and poor countries over tariffs and farm subsidies. The farming sectors in developed countries are heavily subsidized by their governments to the disadvantage of the agricultural producers in developing countries.

The APEC leaders stressed that the success of the WTO negotiations was vital to the growth of the global economy and the alleviation of poverty.

The resumption of the trade talks was needed to create new trade flows and effectively address development requirements, they added.

While admitting that "agriculture remains the key to resolving the current impasse, we need to build an overall package covering market access for industrial goods and services, rules and trade facilitation," the leaders said.

The leaders stressed that they are determined to resume the trade negotiations without delay "to achieve a balanced and ambitious outcome that works for all WTO members."

"We are ready to break the current deadlock: each of us is committed to moving beyond our current positions in key areas of the (Doha) round," they added.

The APEC leaders held their initial meetings yesterday afternoon at the $268-million NCC the Vietnamese government built specifically for this year’s annual meeting of the forum.

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SINGAPORE – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrives here tonight from Hanoi at the end of the two-day 14th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders meeting in the Vietnamese capital.

The President is expected to hold a series of meetings with business leaders in Singapore to drum up investors’ interest in the Philippines as an investment destination.

Many of the leading trading companies operating in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), including the Philippines, are based in Singapore.

In Hanoi, the President held talks with various APEC heads of state on further strengthening bilateral and multilateral trade relations, greater cooperation in energy development and ensuring the peace and security of member countries.

She also joined other APEC leaders in calling for an immediate revival of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks which collapsed in July because of disagreements over tariffs and farm subsidies.

Efforts to resurrect the WTO talks have also been hounded as well by disputes among the wealthy players such as the European Union and the United States over concessions.

Leaders of developing countries decried the heavy subsidies to the farming sector in industrialized countries which rendered the former’s agricultural products uncompetitive.

In her bilateral meeting with US President George W. Bush, President Arroyo expressed her appreciation for the US assistance to the development of Mindanao and her government’s campaign against terrorism.

Calling for greater US involvement in Mindanao, Mrs. Arroyo said the US-Philippines partnership in the fight against terrorism and the development of Mindanao would benefit not only APEC but the whole world.

She pointed out that " Mindanao has all the ingredients of a fresh global crusade to defeat terror, to foster understanding and interfaith solidarity to build self-determination, to fight ignorance and poverty."

Aside from the US, other countries engaged in the implementation of development and security initiatives in Mindanao include Malaysia, Japan and the European Union.

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HANOI -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was garbed in a lotus pink "ao dais" with gold-threaded lotus flower during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ official photo session at the closing of the 14^th APEC Summit here this afternoon.

Designed by Vietnam’s most famous designer, Minh Hanh from Ho Chi Minh City, the "ao dais" was made of the highest quality of Vietnam silk.

The "ao dais" is an elegant calf-length silk tunic associated with Vietnam’s imperial past but today is reserved for ceremonial purposes and mostly worn by women.

In keeping with APEC tradition, the 21 APEC leaders donned the traditional costume of Vietnam and lined up for their group photo at the Island at the West Entrance of the National Convention Center here.

United States President George W. Bush was in royal blue while China’s President Hu Jintao was in red.

The "ao dais" worn by the APEC leaders were in five colors -- red, blue, pink, golden yellow and green. It took several months for 25 seamstresses to sew them for 21 of the world’s most powerful men and women attending this year’s annual meeting of the forum at the Vietnamese capital.

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