Manila hosting WEF on East Asia
By Doris C. Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
“We feel the timing to be in the Philippines is superb and that’s linked to the very strong economic performance of the country, given that the Philippines has now become the benchmark for many countries in the world for good governance and tackling corruption,” - Sushant Palakutri Rao, senior director and head of Asia at WEF
The Philippines is hosting the World
Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia for the very first time in May, providing the
country with a global platform to showcase a story of economic growth achieved
while embracing good governance and anti-corruption policy, a visiting WEF
official said Thursday.
Sushant Palakutri Rao, senior director and
head of Asia at WEF, said in a briefing that the East Asia Summit to be held on
May 21-23 at the Makati Shangri-La, would bring a regional perspective to
various global challenges identified during the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos,
Switzerland, last month.
He said the upcoming summit would also
discuss issues related to the ambitious plan to create by 2015 an integrated
Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Community, which will
allow easier movement of people, investments, goods and services within the
region.
“Because we are in the Philippines for the
first time in our over 40-year history in the summit, we are also looking at
issues that are relevant to the Philippines,” Rao said.
“We feel the timing to
be in the Philippines is superb and that’s linked to the very strong economic
performance of the country, given that the Philippines has now become the
benchmark for many countries in the world for good governance and tackling
corruption,” he said.
Several reports produced by the WEF over
the years have identified the Philippines as one of the most improved economies
in the last three years based on annual competitiveness rankings, Rao said.
He
also cited the annual gender equity report where the Philippines consistently
ranked on top of its regional peers and the only economy in the global top 10
roster.
At the same time, he said there were many
good examples of social entrepreneurship initiatives that could be aptly tied up
to the regional conversations.
“We’ve been fortunate over the past years
of the East Asia Summit to be in the country which is shaping the story of the
region in that particular year, which was very much the case in Myanmar last
year and Indonesia in 2011,” Rao said.
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