THE economic team of President Rodrigo Duterte is bent on staging more consultative conferences nationwide to further broaden multi-sectoral support for its 10-point socioeconomic agenda.
The plan developed after the two-day consultative workshop and economic forum dubbed as Sulong Pilipinas: Hakbang Tungo sa Kaunlaran conference set last June of this year. The event was led by Department of Finance (DOF) secretary Carlos "Sonny" Dominguez III, co-organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PCCI) and Mindanao Business Council (MINBC).
DOF spokesperson Paola Alvarez said in a prominent business forum will also be replicated to various sectors by the different Cabinet secretaries “to generate inputs and establish cohesive partnerships with concerned stakeholders in fleshing out President Duterte’s agenda of inclusive growth.”
“We will be continuing the Sulong Pilipinas. So for different sectors, we will have different consultations involving the different Cabinet secretaries,” Alvarez said in a press statement.
The business sector lauded such event and are looking forward to having more activities that will gather more inputs from the business sector and other sectors on how the government could set new standards and implement reforms that would translate into tangible benefits, especially for poor and underprivileged Filipinos.
Dominguez earlier said that the Duterte presidency would continue with the sound macroeconomic policies that have allowed the economy to grow under the previous administration, but would overhaul the policies and systems that have barred an overwhelming majority of Filipinos from partaking of such benefits.
On generating employment, Alvarez said the government will tap the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to match jobs to the actual needs of the business sector.
Alvarez said that on the part of the National Economic and Development Authority, one of its priorities is to reduce rural poverty by strengthening the agriculture sector and encouraging farmers to form cooperatives to raise productivity.
These agricultural cooperatives, she said, would be encouraged to establish partnerships with businesses that would help them in marketing their products and tapping modern farming technologies.