PH Makes Specific Platforms Heard at Economic Cooperation and Development Ministerial Forum

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and International Economic Relations Carlos D. Sorreta, projected on screen, delivering interventions during the First OECD Ministerial Forum. (DFA-OUMAIER photo)

HA NOI, 19 October 2022 – The Philippines raised specific platforms when it joined members of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), some ASEAN Member States, OECD Council and Secretariat, international organizations, OECD Business Network, and high-level representatives of the business sector during the OECD Ministerial Forum and 10^th Steering Group Meeting of the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Programme (SEARP) on 17-18 October 2022 at Lotte Hotel, Hanoi. 

Delegates welcomed the Philippines’ progress in policy reforms and legislations including the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act, liberalization of several economic sectors, commitment to lowering carbon emissions, and the sustainability and inclusion priorities of the Marcos administration. During the 10^th Steering Group Meeting of the OECD SEARP, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Carlos D. Sorreta further pushed for the inclusion of the welfare of maritime workers in the agenda, a move well received and noted by other members.

Ministers and delegations emphasized the need to keep markets open and preserve the multilateral trading system, address barriers to trade and promote transparency, strengthen regional economic integration especially in ensuring resilience and promoting fit-for-purpose rules and standards, build continuous investment flows and strengthen responsible business conduct, invest in stable and modern infrastructure, skills development, and green recovery, and to dip into regional policy networks to make economies stronger and more robust. To ensure supply chain resilience, the business sector added that there is a need to revitalize trade negotiations, facilitate procedures at the border to help reduce supply disruptions, promote investment in critical trade infrastructure for diversification, and develop and implement policies that encompass businesses of all sizes.

The Philippines looks to OECD as a platform to advance its economic security objectives through high-value capacity building and knowledge exchange projects covering areas like infrastructure and PPP, skills and education, digitalization and innovation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. OECD also aligns with the Philippine national interest in fostering a rules-based multilateral trading system, safe and secure trading and business environment in the Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific region, and responsible business conduct. 

The overall theme of the OECD Ministerial Meeting is Connecting Regions: Partnerships for Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chains. END

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and International Economic Relations Carlos D. Sorreta pushing for Philippine priorities at the Steering Group Meeting of the OECD SEARP. (DFA-OUMAIER photo) 

For more information, visit https://www.oecd-events.org/sea-regional-forum.