MANILA, Philippines - The government is stepping up the development of the country’s
infrastructure as it positions the Philippines as a trade hub between the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members and the markets they
serve, a top economic manager said.
Speaking before the French
business delegation yesterday, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said
improving the infrastructure, sustaining financial and macroeconomic stability
and Filipinos’ per capita income are the
priorities of the Aquino Administration as the country seeks new heights in its
economic transformation.
“We need to make a leap in terms
of infrastructure. If we don’t invest, we’ll not be able to harness the
potential that’s before us. We need to attract private capital and technology
to help us improve our infrastructure, tourism and agriculture,” Purisima said.
“We are accelerating our efforts to build our
infrastructure such as our ports, airports, power, mass transit because
infrastructure is important to make sure we’re as efficient as our
neighbors...We want to be a hub of Asean trade,” Purisima said as he noted that
more Asean countries are becoming strong contenders
Purisima underscored the need for
the country to aggressively position itself as the destination of choice of
both investors and tourists as well as to continue to find ways to show the
world that the Philippines can deliver more than just fun.
The Philippines, with a growing
population, is a good source of manpower in the global market, Purisima noted.
Business ( Article MRec ),
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Purisima said the Philippines
needs to integrate with the Asean and improve its business climate for it to
become a hub in the region.
He noted that the Department of
Finance (DOF) will continue to provide more funds for government projects aimed
at pump-priming the economy while at the same time addressing the delivery of
basic services and limiting the country’s budget deficit to only two percent of
gross domestic product starting this year until 2016.
The Southeast Asian region, with
a population of over 600 million people, is
seen to become a major economic growth force in Asia when the planned
regional common market of Asean countries is established by 2015.
This will significantly reduce
the cost of production for the businesses and economic growth of
member-countries and of the entire region will accelerate.
Under the Asean integration plan,
tariffs on most goods coming from member-countries will be brought down to zero
or near-zero, their financial systems will be integrated, and employment
restrictions will be eased.
The integration is seen to open
more regional cooperation and will improve the scale efficiencies, dynamism and
competitiveness of Asean members. It wll
enable easier movement of goods, services, investment, capital and people and
will ultimately offer new ways of coordinating supply chains, or access to new
markets for established products.
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