Philippines Update: 2017 Philippines Business Mission Report

The Council held its 2017 Philippines Business Mission from July 25-27. During the mission, 14 member companies met with senior government officials – including four Secretary-level officials, the President of the Senate, and the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas – to discuss how U.S. companies could work with the Government of the Philippines to achieve the economic development goals of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022.

The press release for the Mission can be found here.  It includes information on the Mission themes and delegation, as well as the Government officials with whom the delegation met.

Notes from the Mission's meetings can be found here.

Meeting presentations:

• A copy of the presentation by Secretary of Budget and Management Benjamin Diokno’s can be found here.
• A copy of the presentation by Stratbase CEO and Managing Director Prof. Victor Andres C. Manhit can be found here.

Photos from the mission can be found here.

If you have not done so already, please take a few moments to complete the Council’s mission participation survey. The survey can be accessed here: Post Mission Survey. Responses are anonymous.

During this year's Philippines Business Mission, the delegation engaged Government officials on the following initiatives:

• Efforts to improve the overall business environment through comprehensive tax reform and the potential loosening of restrictive economic provisions in the Philippine Constitution;
• The adoption of new technologies and business models in priority economic sectors to encourage more inclusive economic growth;
• Efforts to improve human capital development to reduce the skills gap in priority sectors of the economy;
• Ensuring that progress on the Government's thematic priorities as 2017 ASEAN Chair is sustained. 

The mission generated a number of opportunities for follow-up in several sectors, including agriculture (ensuring industry input on a proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and improving education on new technologies in the sector), ICT (improving the provision of ICT services to the public and enhancing the Government's cybersecurity capabilities), financial services (increasing financial inclusion and literacy via innovative payments technologies), and human capital development (increasing access to online learning and improving skills matching for the workforce).

If other potential follow-up items come to mind, or if you have any additional questions or comments about the Mission, please contact Riley Smith at rsmith@usasean.org.