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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Southeast Asian trade bloc to grace Mindanao business confab
THE 15th Mindanao Business Conference supposedly among Mindanao's business leaders, including government's chief economists, is expected to become an international event this year as a substantial delegation of businessmen from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, belonging to the Bimp-Eaga trade bloc, are expected to attend the three-day event.
Businessmen from the United States, Canada and Australia have also signified their intention to attend the conference. Ambassadors and trade and commercial attaches with embassies in Manila have also been extended invitations to the premiere annual conference.
To be held at Zamboanga City's Garden Orchid Hotel from August 31-September 2, Conference Director and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Regional Governor Teresita Uy-Sebastian said as many as 1,000 businessmen and government technocrats are likely to participate in a what will be a "dynamic interaction on key economic, development and business issues that Mindanao faces", particularly on mining, shipping, e-services, energy and employment.
The conference will also include business consultations, matching, and networking; forum for government policy makers and investors; trade expo of goods and services from the region; and a golf tournament and fellowships, Sebastian said.
A major telecommunications sponsor will extend to the event a cash assistance of P500,000 and another half-million pesos worth of giveaways and promotional materials and collaterals. A partnership agreement was signed by ZCCCFI and the sponsor during the chamber's general assembly at Grand Astoria Hotel Saturday night.
Sebastian said the event is projected to cost as much as P10-million in direct and indirect expenses. The budget for official activities has topped P5 million, she told chamber members during Saturday's meeting, not counting the expenses of the trade exhibitors and industrial partners who will provide transportation and similar assistance to participants.
She enjoined all chamber members and other sectors in the Zamboanga Peninsula to extend their cooperation and support since the region stands to benefit immensely from the event in terms of goodwill, future investments and greater trade and commerce. This will be the second time Zamboanga City will host the conference, the first having been in 1997.
As many as 50 SMEs from Mindanao have signed up to join the exhibition and fair, she said. Half of them are manufacturers of new products from the Zamboanga Peninsula region. In addition, 15 other booths will be selling pasalubong items.
City Mayor Celso Lobregat, who attended the chamber meeting, said the local government will go all-out to make the event a major success.
He said Zamboanga City is poised for another round of major economic growth and development because of big business projects underway, such as the construction of three new shopping malls. He also disclosed that a call center will set up shop here, while a major national housing developer will invest in a subdivision project.
The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) recently said Zamboanga Peninsula "posted the highest growth among the 17 regions (of the country) with a 7.2 percent jump in its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2005, a significant improvement form its 4.1 percent growth in 2004."
The region's agricultural, fishery and forestry sector's output last year was a notable 8.7 percent, the government report said. (Darwin Wee)
(August 1, 2006 issue)
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