Saturday, August 11, 2007 Arroyo to meet biz leaders on power, forex issues
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will hold a dialogue with all foreign chambers of commerce and selected local business groups on August 17 in Malacañang regarding their urgent business concerns, such as power and the exchange rate, according to Trade Secretary Peter Favila.
Favila said the President and the economic managers will give an update on the issues that the businessmen raised in their last dialogue in January plus new issues that they want to take up and the bills that Malacañang wants to be passed by Congress.
"It's a no-holds barred type of meeting. We were saying that we should meet twice or thrice a year. This is the second time," he said.
"I think that what they would want to take up primarily would be the exchange rate and cost of power. And there are several other items there," he said, adding that the businessmen asked about the rehabilitation of the Southern Luzon Expressway (Slex) last January.
He said some of the measures that might be tackled are the creation of a Credit Information Bureau, the bill rationalizing fiscal incentives and the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).
"We need to work on the Jpepa. I've already sought the help of all sectors to explain the benefits of Jpepa. I've been saying that the sooner that we could do it, the better we can maximize the benefits," he said.
This developed as Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said it has been "agreed in principle" that smaller versions of the Legislative-Executive Development
Advisory Council (Ledac) meetings would be held once a month in the Palace.
Bunye said the mini-Ledac meetings was the brainchild of Senior Deputy Executive Secretary and Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) head Joaquin Lagonera. (JMR/Sunnex)
