Balisacan to join Noy at WEF in Myanmar this month

MANILA, Philippines - After reporting the country’s outstanding 7.8 percent economic growth in the first quarter of the year, socioeconomic planning chief Arsenio Balisacan is apparently back in the good graces of Malacañang and is set to join President Aquino at the 22nd World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia in Myanmar this month.

The WEF conference, with the theme “Courageous Transformation for Inclusion and Integration,” will be held at the Myanmar International Convention Center in Nay Pyi Taw from June 5 to 7.

Last April, Balisacan was reportedly removed from the official delegation of the President to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders’ summit in Brunei following the release of government data showing that the percentage of Filipinos living below the poverty line has remained almost unchanged for the past six years.

The report was said to have irked Malacañang, resulting in Balisacan’s removal from the official entourage.

Meanwhile, the WEF on East Asia will focus on ASEAN regional integration, as well as Myanmar’s assumption of the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014, among others.

Issues on better connectivity through improved infrastructure, risk resiliency, investments in human capital, inclusive growth, and the region’s bilateral relations with China, India, and the United States will also be discussed.

Balisacan, also the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), is expected to discuss progress in the Philippine Development Plan. 

The plan, which took its cue from the Millennium Development Goals, focuses on inclusive growth and investments in human capital.

The Philippines will host the WEF East Asia Summit next year.