President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has accomplished a lot in the initial days of his participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland, particularly by telling the Philippines’ success story and encouraging investors to come to the country, the government’s economic team said on Wednesday.
“Maraming na-accomplish. We have meetings with the various — saka maraming top leaders dito saka businessmen during our opening session with the President. Naipaliwanag naman natin iyong Philippine economy. Ang purpose talaga nito is to sell the country – nasaan tayo, ganoon,” Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said in a briefing.
“Kasi kaya very timely itong pag-participate natin sa Davos conference na ito, unang-una, kasi tatlong taon silang sarado so first time na face-to-face; and secondly, we have a very nice story to tell – iyong ano’ng sitwasyon natin after the pandemic. So iyon ang magandang pinunta namin dito,” Diokno explained.
For his part, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said he thinks the challenge for the Philippines as an economy is articulating the good narrative about the country.
From the perspective of key decision-makers abroad, they would want to hear where the Philippines stands at the moment, he explained.
“And I think that interaction proves very useful because as I said, they would want to hear whether the story that’s emerging in the Philippines is sustainable. It’s a long-term one because if they come in, it is a long-term decision,” Balisacan said.
Investors are asking how the country is moving forward, what the policy concerns and issues are, the measures being undertaken to make the economy more attractive for investors, as well as the reforms being advanced by the administration.
“An important achievement that we have made here that, you know, we are able to tell and then also to ask questions, that’s also the other important points there, [being] able to ask direct, pointed, quite frank questions on the economy, on our institutions and on policies,” the socioeconomic planning chief said.
Separately, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the President’s WEF attendance aroused investors’ interest in areas such as digital economy, minerals processing, logistics and transport, as well as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operations. #
