MANILA — Philippines’ initial success on its tax reform program as well as measures that would make the country one of the strongest in Asia will be discussed during the 51st Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which the Philippines will host on May 3-6, 2018.
In a briefing Tuesday, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said best practices in all ADB-member countries would be discussed during the event, which is expected to attract around 3,000 finance and banking officials as well as members of civil society organizations (CSOs), among others.
“We will show them the thinking and the planning that goes into our ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. We will also want to learn from other countries as to how they go about in meeting their own challenges on taxation issues and how we can continue discussing, integrating customs operations among ASEAN countries,” he said.
Dominguez said ADB had lots of experiences in dealing with various issues, thus, further discussions with experts would be a big help in ensuring the achievement of the meeting’s theme, Linking People and Economies for Inclusive Development.
“In every country, there are communities that are left behind. This, I think, should be the focus in the coming years,” he said, citing the need to invest not just in human capital but infrastructure and ensure that each economy will progress as fast as each other.
ADB Secretary Woochong Um, during the same event, said this year’s annual event would showcase important aspects on Philippines’ experiences as well as measures that ensure inclusive growth in the region.
“There are lots of opportunities for discussion among delegates so we have several hours to network,” he said.
The country will spend about PHP90 million for its hosting of the annual event, lower than the PHP200 million it spent when it last hosted the meetings in 2012.
“Philippine is quite frugal about it and I’m sure the ADB is also being frugal about it,” he said.
The Finance chief said the event would be held mostly in the multilateral lender’s headquarters in Ortigas Business District and during the student’s summer break, thus, it would not cause heavy traffic congestion.
Um said they had also requested officials of the Sy-owned SM Megamall to postpone their mall’s sale to also limit the number of people around Ortigas area during of the annual meetings.
Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, during the same briefing, assured the public that the Philippine National Police will activate task force on peace and security and emergency preparedness. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
