Phl to showcase potential as investment destination at WEF meet

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is all set to showcase its potential as an attractive investment destination when it hosts the 23rd World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia scheduled on May 21 to 23.

The three-day event, with the theme “Leveraging Growth for Equitable Progress,” will focus on structural reforms and investments with a view to boosting employment, stimulating economic growth and achieving regional connectivity.

The forum provides the country an opportunity to unlock enormous potential for growth of its economy and harness the power of agriculture to ensure food security, as well as deepen the dialogue between the Philippines and the international community.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima yesterday said the Aquino administration aims to use the coming WEF business conference to make a case for the Philippines’ remarkable comeback from being Southeast Asia’s economic basket case.

“It is a rare opportunity to showcase the best the country offers. We need to highlight the transformation of the Philippines in the past four years from the so-called sick man to one of the economic growth leaders,” Purisima said.

“It’s really driven by the fact that we now have the platform of better and improving governance. We’re now, finally, tapping the potentials of being the youngest country in Asia. We’re tapping the potential of our location and the beauty that we’ve been blessed to improve in tourism.”

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is seen to surpass 6.5 percent this year to make the Philippines the strongest performing Southeast Asian economy.

Inclusive growth

Purisima also noted the government’s increasing investments in infrastructure in line with its goal to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth.

“We’re finally investing in infrastructure because of improved fiscal space. For businesses, they like to spot trends so they will like to come in early and this is really the time to come in because we’re poised to rise even higher and faster. We hope to achieve inclusive and equitable growth in the future,” he said.

The conference will also provide a unique platform to scrutinize ongoing reforms in major sectors of the Philippine economy with a view to promoting sustainable development.

It will serve as an ideal platform for participants to explore the vast opportunities and challenges surrounding the evolving Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic community, which will see the establishment of a common market with a combined GDP of nearly $2 trillion and about 600 million people, by 2015.

The event also provides an opportunity to discuss the risks of unexpected natural disruptions.

Over 1,000 leaders, businessmen

This year’s meeting would see the participation of more than 600 delegates from 30 countries and over 460 business leaders from about 25 industries.

President Aquino will give the keynote address. He will be joined by Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Myanmar Vice President U Nyan Tun.

Other major participants include Sun Chanthol (senior minister at Cambodia’s Minister of Commerce), Muhamad Chatib Basri (Indonesia’s finance minister), Mustapa Mohamed, U Win Myint (Myanmar’s union minister of commerce), Lee Il-houng (ambassador for international cooperation in Korea), Yasutoshi Nishimura (senior vice minister of Japan’s Cabinet Office), Samuel Locklear III (commander, United States Pacific Command), and Cao Duc Phat (minister of agriculture and rural development in Vietnam).

Representing multilateral organizations are Takehiko Nakao, president, Asian Development Bank; Naoyuki Shinohara, deputy managing director, International Monetary Fund; and Rachel Kyte, vice president and special envoy, Climate Change, World Bank.

Sushant Palakurthi Rao, WEF senior director and head for Asia, said the Ayala Group and port magnate Enrique Razon’s International Container Terminal Services Inc. have long been supportive of the WEF.

In recent years, however, the WEF, a Swiss non-profit organization committed to improving the state of the world, has seen an encouraging increase in participation among several other Philippine corporations, which include the Philippine Long Distance Telephone group and SM Investments Corp.

Rao said corporations have been invited not because of their size but because of their commitment to world development.

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the government is spending about P70 million for the affair, which is well within the official ceiling given the support extended by the private sector.

Anti-corruption campaign

The country’s top economic managers led by Purisima said sustained efforts to combat corruption, promote greater accountability and transparency in local government and shore up revenue collections will lead to further investor confidence in the Philippine economy despite a slew of major corruption scandals involving high-level civil servants.

The economic leaders said amid the controversy on the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers, the Philippine economy has been posting impressive growth rates in part due to reforms enacted by President Aquino.