President Rodrigo Duterte called for strengthened cooperation among nations amid the fight against COVID-19 in his speech at the virtual 2021 Nikkei Future of Asia Conference on May 21.
According to Duterte, rich nations should not utilize their influence to take advantage of smaller nations. He added that disputes must also be addressed through peaceful resolution.
“We are only as strong as our weakest link as a country, as a region, and as one global community. This is why we need greater solidarity for collective, coordinated, and comprehensive responses. Inward-looking policies will lead us nowhere,” he said.
“Great powers must resist the temptation to pursue interests at the expense of smaller countries, in plain defiance of international law,” he added.
He said there is no need to take sides in the geo-economic competition of powerful nations, and reaffirmed “support for a free and rules-based multilateral trading system.”
Duterte thanked the cooperation of nations to ensure the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, especially through the global vaccine sharing scheme of COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access or COVAX facility “that has benefited many developing countries”, including the Philippines.
He also brought up the importance of economic recovery and noted that “inclusive and sustainable recovery requires people-centered and holistic responses.”
“The key to recovery and shared prosperity remains the free [movement] of goods, capital, and services, as well as the harnessing of valuable human resources,” he said.
In line with this, he cited the economic recovery programs of the country such as the Build, Build, Build Program, and the continuous strengthening of the healthcare system.
“We are giving better incentives to enterprises and investors through the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act or CREATE law,” he said.
“We are maximizing physical integration in our archipelago and improving our connections with the rest of the modern world. In addition, our transition [to] a greener and more socially equitable economy offers more pathways for economic expansion and modernization,” he added.
This is the second participation of the Chief Executive in one of Asia’s top foreign policy and economic fora organized by Nikkei, Inc. He first participated in 2019. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG-rir
