22 April 2016 – Philippine Ambassador to Spain Carlos C. Salinas described the Philippines as a rising star and a veritable investment destination, which coincides with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), during a symposium entitled “ASEAN Economic Community: Potentials and Opportunities for All” held on April 20 at the Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid.

In his speech, Ambassador Salinas noted that the AEC is envisioned to provide a dynamic platform for consumer driven growth, creating an economic powerhouse that has attracted the attention of the rest of the world. Recognizing that ASEAN is home to a diverse people in terms of culture, religion, and politics, the Ambassador suggested that approach to the AEC should be based on a suite of platforms tailored to the uniqueness of each member state.

Ambassador Salinas likewise highlighted the Philippines’ strategic location, the global competitiveness of its human resources, economic performance, stronger fiscal position, optimal climate for investments and increasing household consumption, among others. He also enumerated the Philippine Government’s incentives to promote investments in export manufacturing, IT service exports, tourism, medical tourism, agro-industrial export manufacturing, agro-industrial bio-fuel manufacturing and logistics and warehousing services.

Prior to the Ambassador Salinas’ presentation, Dr. Julio Luis Martínez, Rector of the Pontifical University of Comillas, Dr. Charles Powell, Director of Real Instituto Elcano, and Ambassador Nguyen Ngoc Binh of Viet Nam, Chairman of the ASEAN Committee in Madrid, welcomed the more than 100 participants to the forum.

During the first session, a roundtable presentation was moderated by Dr. Alfredo Arahuetes, Dean of the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business of ICADE. He was joined by Dr. Javier Gil Pérez of P.U. Comillas, Dr. Mario Esteban of Real Instituto Elcano, Deputy Director General Emilio de Miguel Calabia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Dr. Gloria Garcia of the ICADE Business School. The second session of the forum included presentations by Ambassador Salinas, Ambassador Yuli Mumpuni Widarso of Indonesia, Ambassador Kennedy Jawan of Malaysia, Minister Rommanee Kananurak of Thailand, and Ambassador Nguyen of Viet Nam.

The ACM symposium was organized in cooperation with the Pontifical University of Comillas and Real Instituto Elcano. END