President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo challenged the business community today to take a bigger stake in the country’s future by investing domestically and taking advantage of the high volume of remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) which have contributed greatly to the economic growth.

In a speech at the Special Joint Meeting of Rotary Clubs of Rotary International District 3830 this noon at the Grand Ballroom of Hotel Intercontinental Manila, the President told the businessmen that now is the right time to expand and invest as interest rates are at an all-time low and capital inputs and raw materials are cheap because of the strong peso.

"It is really a great time to start a business and you have the market with you, the strong, sustainable middle-class represented by the families of our overseas Filipinos," she said.

The President pointed out that the increased remittances of some 8 million OFWs have grown to P13 billion, from the P7 billion before the start of her term. These remittances, according to her, have been driving market spending particularly in malls and the real estate industry.

"Because their income has been increasing, their remittances have grown so much, their families now represent the new middle-class that make up the market and our economy," she explained.

The President said the partnership between the government and the private sector should focus on new ideas to propel the economy forward "not on basking on old complaints that only hold us back."

While the stock market is on a 10-year high and direct foreign investments are at an all-time high, the President said domestic investments are not growing as fast, recording only a 2 percent growth in 2006.

The President thanked all local officials who helped implement the government’s fiscal and other economic reforms that have brought the economy to a sustainable level "no longer subjected to the boom and bust cycles that used to affect us in the years past."

Malacaņang said today the bullish business outlook this year is a reflection of the positive results of the programs of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo‘s administration "to grow the economy, expand the infrastructure, and plow back the gains to the Filipino households."

The Makati Business Club (MBC) in its executive outlook survey released yesterday, said the business outlook for 2007 is the brightest in 11 years, with 81 percent of the respondents believing the economic growth this year would exceed 2006’s 5.4 percent.

The percentage of optimistic respondents this year (81 percent) was eclipsed only by that of July 1996, when 93.9 percent of those surveyed said the economic growth that year would be higher than in 1995.

Last year, only half of the respondents in the MBC survey expected the economic growth in 2006 would exceed that of the previous year.

"The bullish outlook across the business sector, notwithstanding the political noise, speaks not only of the strength of our economy but also of our political stability," Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said in a statement.

"By remaining laser-focused on our economy, President Arroyo is signaling to the world that we are in the race for the gold and we intend to stay there," he added.

Among the major economic indicators cited by the respondents in the 2007 MBC survey were healthier fiscal position, lower inflation and lending rates, appreciating peso, and higher levels of investments, exports and imports.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy informed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today that member-countries participating in the Doha Round of Talks have agreed to resume negotiations that could pave the way for the possible signing of a landmark agreement this year.

Manuel Teehankee, permanent representative of the Philippines to the WTO, said Lamy relayed the information to the President during his courtesy call this afternoon in Malacanang.

"They have already started (the negotiations) so he has updated the President. Based on the call of ASEAN and the world leaders in Davos (last January), the WTO and all the members have agreed to fully resume negotiations and try to conclude the DOHA Rounds," Teehankee said.

Also present during the courtesy call were Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

According to Favila, Lamy informed the President that his visits to WTO-member countries have been fruitful, and everything is going positively for the resumption of talks.

Yap said that Lamy is very positive that with the developed countries’ willingness to go back to the negotiating table and make some compromises, there is window of opportunity up to June to thresh out the contentious issues.

Now that the negotiations have fully resumed, Teehankee said there is hope that developed countries would drastically reduce all kinds of trade distorting domestic support such as unfair subsidies and large amount of money that farmers from developed countries receive.

"If there is a conclusion of the Round, there will be now an agreement to reduce these and all export subsidies and provide increased market access to developing countries," Teehankee said.

Developed countries participating in the WTO Talks are the so-called G-6 members that include the European Union, the United States, Australia, Brazil, India and Japan.

Teehankee said it has been the official position of the developing countries that they are willing to contribute to the Round of Talks provided that assurances of the developed countries are there.

He said another important discussion between the President and Lamy was the Feed for Trade initiative mandated in the Hong Kong ministerial conference.

"This relates to multilateral funding, review and monitoring progress so that all countries truly benefit from freer trade but this is through assurance of proper infrastructure and trade related financing for important businesses like logistics, infrastructure, small and medium-scale industries financing and the like," Teehankee said.

As one of the cornerstones of the President’s chairmanship of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Cebu last January, ASEAN leaders pushed for the resumption of the DOHA Round of the stalled WTO Talks to accelerate economic growth and offer a tangible means to reduce poverty globally, and in the ASEAN region.

The Philippines took an active part in the WTO negotiations last year, pushing for the achievement of fair and equitable trade relations between developed and developing countries.

Developing countries are calling for the reduction of developed countries’ trade distorting domestic support particularly the subsidies on agricultural and industrial products.