Development forum draws 300 participants

THE first-ever Mindanao Development Forum (MDF) blasts off Friday with some 300 heads and representatives of various Official Development Assistance (ODA) offices gracing the affair at the Maro Polo Davao.

"It's the first of its kind in Mindanao. It's going to be a good forum," Reyzaldy Tan of the organizing Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) said during the regular Club 888 Forum at the Marco Polo Davao Wednesday.

Tan said Minda chair Luwalhati Antonino will kick off the activity by giving her report on the status of Mindanao's economy and peace and order.

Other expected guests include Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic and Development Authority, Secretary Mary Ann Lucille Sering of the Climate Change Commission and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles.

Minda said the MDF is a high-level multilateral meeting designed to provide the platform for dialogue and public discourse on Mindanao's development agenda.

Tan said two major concerns to be discussed during the event are the Franework Agreement on Bangsamoro and the effects of climate change.

Participants to the event will also tackle concerns that are seen to influence the peace and development efforts, including governance, ecosystems-based economy, justice and peace and security.

"This forum seeks to forge ahead greater convergence and better complementation among development partners in the implementation of various foreign-assisted projects in Mindanao," Antonino said in an earlier statement.

After the MDF, the Philippines Development Forum (PDF) will then be held from February 4 to 5 also at Marco Polo.

Issues that will be raised in the MDF will be discussed in the PDF, which will be held in Mindanao for the first time.

Co-chaired by the World Bank and the Department of Finance, the PDF provides the venue for facilitating substantive policy dialogue among stakeholders on the country's development agenda. (CRAM)