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ountries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region have reached a mutual agreement to establish an APEC services coalition as a means of promoting dialogue and cooperation and identifying new business opportunities for its members.

'€œCountries in the APEC region need to grow our service sectors and make them more efficient in order to boost our competitiveness in services, and in the manufacturing, agriculture and the small and medium business sectors that are all users of services,'€ said Sinta Sirait, Indonesia Services Dialogue (ISD) Executive Director, who attended the APEC Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting in Cebu City, the Philippines, recently.

Sinta explained that the initiative to establish the new Services Coalition came from Indonesia. It was first promoted by members of the Indonesia APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the Indonesia Services Dialogue at APEC 2013, and the idea was taken up by ABAC and the Philippines Government as the Chair of APEC 2015.

According to Sinta Sirait, service sectors play a pivotal role in the national economy. ISD data indicates that services make up about 51 percent of the Indonesian economy and they are the fastest growing sectors. The service sectors are also the biggest employers, providing 43 percent of total employment.