FOURTH ANNIVERSARY FORUM of ARANGKADA PHILIPPINES March 3, 2015 | Rizal Ballroom, Makati Shangri-La Hotel
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! FOURTH ANNIVERSARY FORUM OF ARANGKADA PHILIPPINES March 3, 2015 | Rizal Ballroom, Makati Shangri-La Hotel Welcoming Remarks and Introduction of Guest Speaker By Mr. Rhicke Jennings President, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. Managing Director of Indonesia and Philippines, Fedex Express as delivered by Mr. Ebb Hinchliffe Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (Good morning everyone it’s my pleasure to say) Ladies and gentlemen, (from the) our private and public sector and, (our) media partners, (of course) our partners in the business associations, (our) corporate sponsors (that we couldn’t do without), (our) diplomats, (our) friends around the world watching our (on the) webcast, I have the distinct pleasure on behalf of the Joint Foreign Chambers to welcome all of you to the fourth annual Arangkada Philippines Forum. My name is Rhicke Jennings. I am president of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, the first American chamber outside the United States. (My name is Ebb Hinchliffe I am the Executive Director for the American Chamber of Commerce Philippines it’s the first American Chamber outside the United States. Some of you may be reading the program saying, “what’s Ebb doing up there” about 7:45 this morning I got a call from our President Mr. Rhicke Jennings who said that he was sick and would not be able to attend today. I know Rhicke very well, if Rhicke could be here, he would be here. And the way he sounded on the phone he was definitely quite sick. He said he got up and tried to put his clothes on and just couldn’t make it so therefore it’s my honor to able to read Rhicke’s speech for him. I do not enjoy reading other peoples speeches but when you have about a 10 minute warning I guess I have no choice. So please bear with me) The JFC is a coalition (as you may know) of seven chambers representing over 3,000 members companies. (We’re) engaged in over $230 billion of trade and $30 billion of (in) investment. The (Joint Foreign Chamber) JFC promotes an investor-friendly environment in the Philippines as a means to achieve inclusive growth. Legend: ABC omitted during actual speech 1 ABC actual speech! ! ! The (Joint Foreign Chamber) JFC launched Arangkada Philippines in December 2010 with (we had) Secretary Domingo (joining us at that time as well as) and Director General de Lima at (from) the Department of Trade and Industry (at that time. Now four years later) Arangkada is a strong public-private sector partnership, and we are honored to host officials from DTI (today) as well as many other Philippine Government partners (officials from the Philippine Government and other governments.) Each Arangkada Philippines forum has had a different theme. (I remember in my personal experience the first one was “Move Twice as Fast!”) In past years it has been “Move Twice as Fast!” (the following year we used the phrase) “Realize the Potential!” and (Last year was) “More Reforms = More Jobs!” (And this year) For 2015 our theme is “Invest NOW for Inclusive Growth!” Our theme (This) conforms with the theme the Philippines has chosen for APEC 2015 “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World.” Since 97% of all businesses in APEC economics are SMEs, we hope to hear comments today (from these SMEs) about how to support their growth. Inclusive growth is (a very big) the top priority for every government – (We heard it from President Obama, the U.S. President when was here) of President Obama who visited us last year, of (Last week we heard it again from President Hollande of France when he was here) President Hollande who visited last week, of (and of course the) President Aquino, (and all the Presidents and members of the 21 ASEAN leaders all talk about inclusive growth) and every one of the 21 APEC member leaders who will be here in November. President Aquino In his 2013 (President Aquino in his) State of the (Union) Nation Address told us that “We cannot wait for the trickle-down effect…What we call inclusive growth…is the principal that drives every initiative, every action, every decision of your (our) government.” (And then) Pope Francis (during his visit) told us at Malacañang Palace to “break the bonds of injustice and oppression which give rise to glaring…social inequalities.” It is not easy to find an agreed definition of inclusive growth, but one key element is that the poorest (of those) cohorts of the population should improve their lives at the same (rate) or a faster rate than (those of the wealthiest) the wealthier cohorts. It also (provides the) means to Legend: ABC omitted during actual speech 2 ABC actual speech! ! ! provide better opportunities for the poorest cohorts by providing them with better health and (better) education. As a businessman (myself), I also think a sound investment climate is a critical (crucial) prerequisite, and here the public sector plays a very important role with its policies and programs for (of) all levels of business, from the micro entrepreneur to the major conglomerate. The current global debate over inequality in the wealthiest (nations) countries is also pertinent to our theme and applies to the Philippines, where wealth is highly concentrated. The main challenge is not to redistribute (the) wealth, but to make the pie grow much larger (and larger) and for (so that) more of the 100 million Filipinos to (can) have larger and more equitable shares (of that pie). We believe the system of capitalism with free and open markets and competitive level playing fields creates (better) jobs better than any other business model (we’ve seen). For the Philippines to make growth more inclusive, successive presidential administrations should undertake reforms that sustain and increase GDP growth. This will require (the) continued good governance (that’s been started), political will to undertake more structural reforms, better infrastructure, a fair regulatory regime, (with) and better business costs, among others. The statistics for (of) unemployment and underemployment in the Philippines are among the highest in Asia (we all know this). But the labor force is young and the second largest in ASEAN after Indonesia. This (The) demographic dividend is the greatest advantage of the country, to have the potential for a very large workforce many of whom can have quality jobs working in and not outside the Philippines, a workforce that in 50 years will be larger than the total population today of all but 20 countries in the world. But without good jobs, this (the) demographic (effect) dividend could be a demographic liability. (Let’s look) Looking back (a minute) at (on) 2014 (and highlight some of the good news) there was good news for future inclusive growth: • GDP growth of 6.1% was one of the highest in the region. • Domestic and foreign investment (definitely on the rise) is rising. • International credit and competitiveness ratings (continue to improve) improved. Legend: ABC omitted during actual speech 3 ABC actual speech! ! ! • BPO, construction, manufacturing and tourism were (all among the strong drivers in this growth) strong growth drivers • 2.5 million Filipinos escaped extreme poverty. • (Underemployment) Unemployment fell to 6%, the lowest in a (over a) decade. The private sector is doing its share and is ready to do more to improve inclusive growth through investing. Large firms also generously support a wide range of CSR activities, especially in education, health, housing, and disaster relief (as we’ve seen in 2014) and recovery. We urge the public sector to continue and improve its policies to create a better environment for jobs with a better educated, healthier, and secure workforce enjoying modern infrastructure and putting in place supportive rather than burdensome regulatory regimes. The public sector is the enabler of job growth, while the private sector is the engine. The two must work in parallel (to make this thing we call) for inclusive growth and job creation. Allow me (and the Joint Foreign Chambers have a few suggestions) to suggest a few specific targets that (we would like to see reached) will (to) support (the) inclusive growth for the next few (in the coming) years: • GDP growth should be raised (rise) to 8%. • Overall investment should increase (rise) from 19% to (a height of) 30% of GDP. • Foreign investment should surge from $6 billion (today) to $10 billion. • Public sector infrastructure spending should (finally) reach (the) 5% of GDP. • The agricultural, creative industries, and mining sectors should be a focus for reforms and growth. • Mindanao must have peace in order to develop. Legend: ABC omitted during actual speech 4 ABC actual speech! ! ! • The unemployment rate (needs to fall) should fall below 5% and the MDG goal of reducing poverty to 18% by 2016 should (needs to) be achieved. Today we will hear from 41 speakers (it’s going to be a fantastic day. These 41 will be talking) about challenges and solutions that can (to) increase investment, create jobs, and bring about more inclusive growth. (This time, I would like to say that) We would now like to hear (be hearing) the opening remarks from a senior government representative (official). These remarks are those of (the supposed to be of the) Finance Secretary (Bobby Romulo, I mean of Secretary) Cesar Purisima (Excuse me, sorry Bobby. We need him to sing right? Bobby would be here if he could. I guess I had that in my heart somewhere. Anyway the remarks of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima) who was called to another meeting (will not be with us today) yesterday afternoon and whose remarks (they) will now be delivered by (our) National Treasurer Roberto Tan.