President Aquino met with leading CEOs in a roundtable forum organized by the Asia
Pacific Foundation of Canada (APFC). The business executives were accompanied by
Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade.
Stewart Beck, APFC Chair, said that the vitality of Philippine-Canadian relations was
underpinned by Diaspora, referring to the 700,000-strong Filipino-Canadian
community.
In reply to a question from Sunlife Financial CEO Dean Connor on what must happen for the Philippines to sustain its fast rate of economic growth, President Aquino
said that he will continue focusing on investments in people and hoped that the next administration will continue initiatives such as the K to 12, intensified technical-vocational skill training, and job matching, and social protection programs such as
conditional cash transfer, universal health care and socialized housing.
Donald Guloien, Manulife Financial CEO, expressed the upbeat confidence of Canadian business in the Philippine economy.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima pointed out that there are robust opportunities in the
Philippines for investments in infrastructure development, calamity insurance, asset
management, and agribusiness.
TD Bank Group Chair Franck McKenna said that Canadian business is impressed about the Philippines’ ascent in world competitiveness rankings on account of increased
transparency and good governance policies.
Doug Murphy, President and CEO of Corus Entertainment, said his company was interested in tapping into Filipino talents in animation and the creative industries.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura Del Rosario said there were many government initiatives to promote innovation such as the tie-up between De La Salle University in the Toon Boom animation innovation project.
Murphy said that his company wants to increase its footprint in the creative
industry through collaboration with the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) industrial park program.
Anna Forgione, general counsel of D2L, shared her company’s experience working
with Globe Telecoms in enhancing technology use in education.
President Aquino said that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has been tasked to improve public wi-fi connectivity and that public high schools in the
Philippines are already using computers extensively.
