Cagayan de Oro to host gov't, private sector confab

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 20, 2010) - The City of Golden Friendship, Cagayan de Oro, in northern Mindanao is hosting the “1st Government-Private Sector Conference on Our Country’s Economic Prospects Under the Aquino Administration” is all set on November 18 at the Xavier Sports and Country Club in Cagayan de Oro City.

Organized in cooperation with the Department on Interior and Local Government under regional director Loreto Bhagwani and the Oro Chamber of Commerce, this event hopes to gather the region’s 94 mayors and 5 governors and around 100 business leaders to listen to noted economist and Harvard-trained Dr. Bernardo Villegas, Senior Vice-President and Dean of the School of Economics of the University of Asia and the Pacific, speak on the shift in global economic power away from the developed economies to the emerging markets.

In the process, Dr. Villegas is expected to show the implications this shift has on the Philippine economy, how the Aquino administration, with its emphasis on good governance, is our best chance to finally claim our place among the N-11 countries, the eleven countries identified by Goldman Sachs as the next emerging economic powers after Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and what the mayors and governors, working with the private sector, could do to help make this forecast a reality.

In other words, this is really an attempt—not only to prepare in case the Goldman Sachs prediction happens—but more so to make sure the prediction happens, and, if possible, to hasten its materialization by focusing attention to the need for a deliberate and systematic identification of opportunities, setting of goals, and charting the course that will secure these goals.

This activity is focusing on mayors and business leaders because more will be accomplished were these two to work hand-in-hand than were the two to work independently, for, indeed, it is the private sector who’ll take care of the investment and management, and the government sector of the infrastructure and incentives, a powerful combination if done properly.

No less than President Aquino appreciates this, that’s probably why he is batting for closer collaboration between the private sector and the government.

This is the reason why Dr. Villegas will have with him Dr. Rolando Dy, Executive Director of the Center for Food and Agribusiness of the University of Asia and the Pacific, one of the country’s foremost experts on agri-business to give inputs and to answer questions pertaining to agri-business, one area which promises to be a driving force behind any economic surge, and which Mindanao holds so much promise of.

This conference is being initiated by A Brown Co Inc as part of its corporate social responsibility. A Brown is the developer of Xavier Estates, TeakwoodHills, Valencia Estates in Valencia City, Bukidnon, and West Highlands in Butuan City.

A Brown acknowledges the key support of the Director Bhagwani and the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation in making this conference possible. (Abraham Llera)