Australia, Phl team up for ASEAN Integration

CEBU, Philippines - Australia and the Philippines are strengthening their partnership to build up the country’s human resource industry as it gets ready for the 2015 ASEAN Economic Integration. This is one of the government’s ways to achieve the development and societal goals.

“The Civil Service Commission is dead serious in positioning ourselves as we prepare for this ASEAN integration. We have to showcase to the world of what we have,” said Duque in a press conference yesterday. CSC and the Australian government through the Philippines Australia Human Resource and Organizational Development Facility conducted a two-day HR Symposium here.

The symposium, which was attended by over a thousand Filipino public and private human resource and organizational development experts, aims to highlight the vital role of strategic HR in the said integration with other ten member states, including the Philippines.

“Economic advancement relies on human resources. Unless people have equal access to education, training and capacity building, the Philippines may be deprived of a large pool of creative thinkers and entrepreneurs,” said Duque in a statement.

Human resource deve-lopment and capacity building is one of the areas of cooperation identified in the ASEAN integration, which means investing in human resource development to have the right structures, business processes, systems, people and competencies to support the said integration.

David Dutton, Australian Embassy deputy head of mission, said that their government will continue to give support to the Philippines.

The Australian government has been a committed partner of the country in building human resource management and development as well as in helping the country improve its processes, structures, skills and behavior.

Australian ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell, in the same statement, said that his government is honored to be a partner of the Philippines, specifically the CSC, in promoting a functioning, responsive and capable public service ready to take on the challenges of the ASEAN integration.

With the theme “Gearing towards ASEAN integration through Strategic HR,” the symposium emphasized the important role of HR managers in the organization as they perform a host of functions essential to its efficient functioning such as recruitment of competent people, performance management, training and development and rewards and recognition.

To recall, during the 12th ASEAN Summit in 2007 held in Cebu, the ASEAN leaders agreed to fast track the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 and to transform ASEAN into a region with the free movement of goods, services, investments, skilled labor and freer flow of capital.

According to the “Declaration on the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint,” the  AEC will establish ASEAN as a single market and production base, making it more dynamic and competitive with new mechanisms and measures to strengthen the implementation of its existing economic initiatives, among others.  (FREEMAN)