Visayas LGUs to convene in regional economic forum

CEBU, Philippines - More than a hundred leaders and representatives from the Local Government Units of all three regions in Visayas- Central, Western and Eastern, will gather today in Bohol for a discussion dubbed as the Local and Regional Economic Development: Forum on “Accelerating Economic Development through Cluster Approach”.

With local chief executives, public and private development planners, civil society partners and other stakeholders, the forum would shed light on the initiatives taken about by the ecotourism development project in five Bohol municipalities along the Abatan River, which are Antequera, Balilihan, Catigbian, Cortes and Maribojoc,

The forum would be a way for sharing of experiences of the LGUs and challenges faced along the way which has helped forge inter-LGU cooperation for the joint and mutual development of their respective areas of responsibility.

Through the discussion they aim to gather lessons, good practices and critical success that would applicable in more projects of the LGUs.

Aside from the Ecotourism project in Abatan, the Fishnet Project of the South Maqueda Bay Cluster involving six municipalities in Samar , will also be presented as a case study.

Bohol Representative Edgardo Chatto, who is one of the authors of the tourism bill known as House Bill 5229 or the proposed Tourism Act of 2008, will deliver the keynote address today.

Dr Volker Steigerwald, Program Manager of the Private Sector Promotion (SMEDSEP) Program will also be in the forum. SMEDSEP is a development cooperation project between the Philippines and the Federal Republic of Germany. It is made in partnership between Department of Trade and Industry in all levels and the German Technical Cooperation on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The LRED approach, which is promoted and facilitated by SMEDSEP is a bottom-up, participatory planning process that builds on the comparative and competitive advantages of an LGU.

The Abatan Cluster LRED opens unique opportunities for the creation of overall synergies out of the individual area-based contributions of the five municipalities who share the common advantage of the Abatan River .

GTZ, the German Government’s international development enterprise, has cooperated with the Philippine partners for more than 33 years. Together with it's local partners GTZ works to balance economic, social and ecological interests through multi stakeholder dialogue, participation and collaboration.