ECONOMIC managers of the country will meet with Chinese business magnate Jack Ma by January in China to discuss how to accelerate the Philippines’ e-commerce landscape.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said he and several DOF and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials, will meet with Ma again to hold more extensive discussions on how to ensure an enabling financial regulatory environment for e-commerce growth in the Philippines.
“We are planning to visit him. He invited us to have further discussions in China. We will visit him probably in January with Central Bank (officials). We’ll review the regulatory environment here so that we don’t have regulations that choke the growth of e-commerce,” Dominguez said in a statement yesterday.
In a meeting with Ma during the Alibaba founder’s recent visit to Manila, Dominguez said the businessman is keen on assisting developing countries like the Philippines in building digital technologies so that small enterprises can benefit from globalization.
The goal is to go cashless and connect the Philippine e-commerce markets to Europe, China and to the rest of the world.
DOF quoted Ma and his interest to invest in the Philippines in the next five years, most likely in the country’s service industry. “The Philippines has the best service and has the heart to become key players in the industry,” Ma reportedly said.
Dominguez wants to make sure financial regulations in the country does not stymie the growth of Philippine MSMEs.
In December 2015, the BSP launched the National Retail Payment System to create a safe, efficient and reliable electronic retail payment system in the country.
In March, the BSP launched electronic fund transfer payment schemes Instapay and PESO Net.