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PGMA's Speech during the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Executive Counselors Meeting |
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International Convention Room, 7th
floor |
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18 June 2009 |
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Thank you very much Chairman Okamura. Other officers and members of the Japan Chamber, Secretary Romulo, Senator Santiago, Senator Angara, our Deputy Speakers, our other Cabinet members, members of Congress, members of the Filipino Business Community, ladies and gentlemen. And, of course, our leaders and shakers of the Japanese Business Community. It is an honor to address you. Japan has been an extraordinary friend and ally of the Philippines. Through the years, in good times and bad, Japan has consistently lent a helping hand to the Philippines. You are our largest source of development assistance. You are an important trading partner and foreign investor. As Mr. Chairman said, I have been to Japan seven times, that’s only seven times during my presidency. But if you’re going to talk about how often I’ve been to Japan since I was a student then we cannot count how many times I have been to Japan. Japan is a very important country for our people and for my family. And so I honor… I’m very honored by those seven times I have been to Japan during my presidency including a State Visit with Their Majesties in 2002. This time my talks with senior government officials and with the leaders of the business community, such as you, focus on the significant benefits we can realize from the first-ever bilateral trade agreement between Japan and the Philippines -- the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA. With the JPEPA our bilateral relations are at their highest peak since the State Visit made by Their Imperial Majesties, who were then Crown Prince and Princess of Japan to the Philippines during the administration of my father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal. Now, we have a new chapter again with the entry into force of JPEPA. Now, we open a new era of economic relations. In this new era we are determined to further expand and strengthen our bilateral relations. The JPEPA is about bringing advantages to both nations while minimizing disadvantages. Any trade agreement requires adjustment for both Parties, but the net result of this agreement will benefit both of our economies. I believe that that was the message that was made to the senators when they ratified the JPEPA by our sponsors who are here with us today. The primary sponsors: Senator Defensor Santiago, who is Chairman of the Committee on International Relations, and by Senator Edgardo Angara, who used to be Senate President, who worked very hard to explain the economic benefits of JPEPA to the Philippines. The Agreement will bring about liberalization of trade and services between our two countries. It will bring about facilitation and greater liberalization of investment. It will bring about enhanced technical cooperation and capacity building. It will promote an increased flow of resources and help create a bigger market that will provide greater opportunities and larger economies of scale for Philippine and Japanese businesses. Japanese consumers will be better able to enjoy Philippine bananas, pineapples, crabs, shrimps, chicken, tuna. Japanese industries will be able to supply the Philippine manufacturing sector with critical inputs such as specialty steel products, auto parts, electrical and electronic parts. Textiles and apparel will enjoy mutual elimination of tariffs. The Agreement enhances the access to the Japanese market of much-needed Filipino service providers and guarantees them non-discriminatory treatment. For the first time, Japan is accepting foreign health workers -- Filipino nurses and care workers -- who will be very important to the aging population of Japan. Last May, 283 Filipino nurses and caregivers arrived in Japan for the first time under the JPEPA framework. They have begun their language training in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Hiroshima. Through the framework of JPEPA, as mentioned earlier in our dialogue, we should now work on substantive action. We should encourage more investment from Japan to the Philippines, which will create employment opportunities and boost demand in the entire region.To maximize this potential, we will strengthen dialogue with you, the private sector, because it is so important for us to know what the private sector expects so that they will continue to expand their investments in the Philippines. Under the framework of JPEPA, we will promote economic cooperation based on your needs, the private sector’s needs, as well as economic cooperation focused on infrastructure and human resource development, which you need, and the improvement of business and investment environment. We will base our economic cooperation on these matters with a view to actualizing the potential of your private sector investment. Japanese investors should maximize the economic opportunities offered by JPEPA. I have mentioned earlier some of the trade opportunities. I have mentioned earlier some of the service opportunities that you will be needing from Filipino service providers. As far as investment is concerned I dare say we offer one of the best values for investment in our region from Business Process Outsourcing, tourism, energy and technology, to mining, biofuels and infrastructure. And to add to these, especially for Japanese investors, Japanese language schools can even be established in the Philippines to shorten the training period for nurses and caregivers prior to their assignment in Japan. As far as a general environment of the Philippines is concerned, no nation is isolated from the impact of the global crisis, but the Philippines is blessed to be among those faring better than others. In 2007 before the crisis, Philippine GNP grew 8.0 percent. In 2008 when two-thirds of the world went into recession, Philippine GNP still grew at 6.1 percent. In the first quarter of this year, our GNP still grew at 4.4 percent. This is because we took the bitter pill of economic reform years ago. We raised revenues at great political cost. In the Senate, that was championed by our now head of the National Economic Development Authority, Ralph Recto, and in the House of Representatives many of those who are here present today. As I said, we have two Deputy Speakers: Villarosa and Singson, we have our Deputy Majority Leader Gonzalez and several other congressmen and congresswomen who are here today. They worked very hard to raise those revenues. And we were able to invest these new revenues heavily in long overdue physical and human infrastructure which helped to expand our domestic demand aside from making investment more convenient. And this increased in domestic demand reduced our reliance on exports to 28.5 percent of GDP today from 49.0 percent before my Administration in year 2000. Indeed, one of the attractions of investing in the Philippines is our large domestic market. Another large attraction is our English speaking hardworking, proficient, easily trainable workforce. Our environment is business-friendly. We have 68 economic zones and Information Technology Parks which offer incentives and ease of doing business. We have made progress in combating corruption that puts additional costs in doing business. The 2009 Asian Corruption Survey conducted by the Hongkong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy shows improvement in our scores, reaffirming our government’s commitment to win the fight against corruption through a platform of good governance. Our reforms are succeeding in attracting more investment. They will also ensure that our priority industries, which I mentioned to you earlier, continue to grow as drivers of our growth. Major investments by various international companies including Toshiba, Marubeni and Tokyo Electric, Toyota, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi UFJ, just to mention a few, validate our strategy. Companies which are willing to take risks in times of economic uncertainty, such as what we have now, will be the first ones to tap new opportunities and reap the windfall once the global economy rebounds. And in our conversation earlier with the Chairman he was talking about the consensus that is arising now, that is emerging now among the business sector and even among the financial sector that Japan has probably already hit the bottom -- it is now beginning its slow rise to normalcy. And so as we prepare for that rebound that we all know will come, let me say to the Japanese business community: for growth even through the global crisis, invest in the Philippines, trade with the Philippines. Thank you. |
