PANANAW MULA SA PALASYO

The President leaves late Tuesday evening for New York where she is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly, participate in the Clinton Global Initiative forum, meet with diverse US business groups, and the Filipino community.

After delivering the Philippines’ Country Report to the General Assembly, she is scheduled to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, to discuss a wide range of issues affecting the Philippines and Asean.

The Clinton Global Initiative, (organized in 2005 by her former Georgetown classmate, former President Bill Clinton) brings together global leaders, including heads of state, non-profit organizations, charities and business  leaders to discuss challenges facing the world today and devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. This year’s focus areas are: Energy and Climate Change, Global Health, Poverty Alleviation and Education.  During the opening plenary, which will explore the transformative capacity of businesses, governments, and NGOs to collaboratively develop and implement sustainable solutions, the President will be joined by Robert Zoellick, president of The World Bank Group, H. Lee Scott, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

The President will take the opportunity while in New York to meet leaders of the US-Asean Business Advisory Council, in a roundtable discussion over lunch to be hosted by Martin Sullivan, CEO of AIG.  Other presidential engagements include calls by officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which oversees the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), bank and financial officials and current US investors in the Philippines.

Before flying back to Manila, the President may drop in at the matinee performance of her favorite international performer, Lea Salonga, who is playing the role of Fantine in the Broadway musicale Les Miserables.  

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His Excellency, Prime Minister Feleti Vaka'uta Sevele of the Kingdom of Tonga became the first Tongan head of government to pay an official visit to our country since our bilateral relations were established in 1981. Since 1984, a considerable number of Tongan nationals have participated in training programs offered by Philippine government agencies and other institutions.   In the past few years, the Philippines has been exporting cement to Tonga, and is now exploring other possible areas for commerce and tourism.   Tonga is our dialogue partner in the Pacific Islands Forum.

The Prime Minister's visit was auspiciously timed with the Aid for Trade Conference of the Asian Development Bank, which was a high-level review of the Asian dimension of aid for trade. This dimension is significant because the world is bullish on Asia and Asia's ability to help drive positive change in the world.   At the conference, governments, donors and the private sector focused on, among others, the issue of beneficiary-countries making trade a greater priority, and donors scaling up trade-related official development assistance and offering their expertise.

Recognizing that the Philippines may not yet be ready to compete head-to-head in every sector, part of our Philippine position is first,  there must be greater coherence or convergence of policies among international development institutions, such as the   World Bank, the IMF, the ADB, and the WTO, so that trade is mainstreamed in the development agenda and therefore capacity building can be focused and targeted; and second, we must review special and differential treatment to mean not just the phasing of commitments but also capacity building and sufficient flexibility to pursue domestic development goals.  

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