Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez invited the international business community to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Roundtable to be hosted in Manila by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. this March to showcase the country’s distinct advantages as a prime destination of foreign investments.
Romualdez, head of the Philippine delegation to the WEF 2024 Annual Meeting, extended the invitation Wednesday in his closing remarks as one of the featured guests during the “Learning from ASEAN” session at the WEF Annual Meeting live panel discussion hosted by CNN anchor Julia Chatterley.
Romualdez was joined in the panel discussion by Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Vietnam, Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva.
The Speaker also told foreign investors at the meeting in Davos, Switzerland that now is the most opportune time to invest in the Philippines, especially through the country’s sovereign wealth fund, also known as the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).
Romualdez made the pitch during the “Breakfast Interaction with the Philippine Delegation to the 2024 WEF” roundtable discussion, which executives and top-level representatives from leading international business and interest groups attended at the Belvedere Hotel.
When asked about how he sees the Southeast Asian bloc five or ten years from now, the Speaker said: “I see an ASEAN Parliament like the EU (European Union), I aspire for that. That has been an aspiration of ASEAN ever since its inception.”
“And to see the seeds of that, we invite you to Manila this March 18 to 19. Manila and the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be hosting the World Economic Forum CEO Round Table. You will get a glimpse of our aspiration for an ASEAN Parliament,” Romualdez added.
The WEF Country Roundtable on the Philippines, scheduled to be a special in-person event, is likely to take place at the Malacañang presidential compound in Manila.
The event hopes to welcome more than 50 representatives both from local and international companies and organizations with a special focus on foreign funds and investment companies who are interested in exploring opportunities related to the MIF.
The roundtable is organized within the context of sustainability, examining the linkages between digitalization, infrastructure development, and the energy transition.
It will be the first high-level roundtable to be convened in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Romualdez said the event will be a great opportunity to bring together representatives from the public and private sectors.
“As such, CEOs from international and Filipino corporations will be able to share experiences and discuss government initiatives and areas of collaboration with international and local government officials,” he said.
Romualdez also said the Philippines plans to propose a legal framework to ASEAN to set the rules governing artificial intelligence when it assumes the chairmanship of the regional bloc in 2026.
“We’d like to give as a gift to ASEAN a legal framework. … Digitization, even in our economic policy, is very, very much right up there as a priority,” Romualdez said.
“Alongside that is cybersecurity, and the concomitant concerns and issues as generative artificial intelligence, a field that needs a lot of support and regulation. We feel that in ASEAN, we can capitalize and optimize these developments, but within a framework of regulatory support for this.”
Romualdez said such a framework is especially important for the Philippines, noting that with the increasing use of artificial intelligence or AI, the country’s thriving business process outsourcing sector is now facing a severe threat.
“It’s a very vulnerable sector in a very, very bright industry today. But we see a transformation of personnel and upskilling of these personnel to a level to support generative AI will be likely a very, very logical direction to take,” Romualdez said.
“It is incumbent upon us in Congress to come up with a legal framework that will not just fit the Philippines, but will be very, very appropriate for ASEAN.”
In the breakfast interaction, Romualdez cited the robust growth of the country’s economy under the leadership of President Marcos, continuing reforms to make the country more investor-friendly, as well as the positive prospects of the newly-established MIF.
“I am heartened and thankful for the interest we have received from both local and foreign investors who have recognized this as the most opportune time to invest in the MIF,” he said.
“We are extremely optimistic in the continued growth of the Philippine economy and the potential of the MIF and look forward to a fruitful partnership with our investors as we build a better, brighter future for our countrymen,” he added.
Romualdez acknowledged that like the rest of the world, the Philippines has experienced challenges in the previous years, principally caused by the coronavirus pandemic that hit local industries hard.
But he said President Marcos managed to assemble a competent economic team to revive the economy.
“In the past two years, I have seen him assemble a team of highly competent technocrats and civil servants, earn the confidence of the business community, and continue to engage relevant stakeholders to achieve economic growth, and the agenda for prosperity,” Romualdez noted.
Through such efforts, Romualdez said the country has seen its gross domestic product (GDP) expand by 5.9 percent in the third quarter of 2023, with GDP growth forecasts for the fourth quarter pegged at 6.2 percent.
“There is much promise that beyond the country’s economic recovery, there is also room for tremendous growth. We have been looking at ways of sustaining this momentum, and one of the key factors lies in finding innovative solutions and improving existing ideas to address long-standing issues,” he said.
Romualdez was referring to the MIF among these solutions.
He said the establishment of the first-ever sovereign wealth fund was “envisioned as an investment vehicle for government programs and projects aimed at promoting the country’s growth and social development.”
Created through legislation in 2023, the MIF will be sourced from both the public and private sectors, locally and internationally.
Foreign and domestic capital will be co-investors to finance the country’s economic development, mainly through investments in commercially viable projects.
He added that the fund will make strategic and profitable investments in key sectors to obtain optimal returns and financial gain in these investments.
Several potential sectors have been identified, including infrastructure, oil, gas, and power, mineral processing, tourism, transportation, and aviation.
“With the government’s full support, the MIF will be stable, profitable, and economically sound. As the President has said, it will be ‘run professionally and without undue political influence.’”
“Skilled, experienced managers will handle the operations to preserve and enhance the value of the fund, with auditing mechanisms and financial safeguards in place,” Romualdez said.
Being a former banker himself, the Speaker said he has seen over 70 countries establish their versions of sovereign wealth funds, with over 90 percent success rate.
He hoped to integrate the best practices of these nations while remaining responsive to the Philippines’ development needs.
Romualdez added that the Philippine Senate and the House Representatives are now in sync in efforts to introduce constitutional reforms to create a framework that will be conducive to fostering a competitive, inclusive, and robust economic environment.
The breakfast gathering provided a venue for the PH delegation to the 2024 WEF to present investment opportunities in the Philippines, explain the features of the MIF, and answer concerns raised by the guests.
Among the key issues discussed during the breakfast meeting include concerns about the stability and predictability of policies, the challenge and potential of digitalization, as well as the critical role in the progress and development of reliable energy supply.