A MULTISECTORAL dialogue will be held in Davao City next week to reach consensus and forge collective action from various stakeholders on urgent initiatives to flesh out the Duterte administration’s goal under its 10-point socioeconomic agenda to significantly cut poverty incidence and make high growth not only sustainable but, more importantly, also felt by all Filipinos.
The Philippines Development Forum (PDF), which is chaired by the Department of Finance (DOF), serves as the primary mechanism for facilitating policy dialogues among all stakeholders, including the national government and local government units (LGUs), business sector, the development partner community, the academe and civil society organization, on the Government’s development agenda.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III chairs the forum while Secretary Jesus Dureza for the peace process is co-chairperson.
Dominguez said the forum offers business groups and other organizations such the Makati Business Club, “that also has been asking for an audience with the President,” the opportunity to take part in the dialogue and air their views on how best to sustain and achieve inclusive growth.
“The Department of Finance is holding a Philippine Development Forum in Davao City on November 8 and 9 and I would like to invite all these groups to participate in the forum because there they can air their concerns and we can discuss the future direction of our country,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said the Philippines’ development partners, such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and other global financial institutions, along with civil society groups and representatives of foreign governments, are also invited to participate in the two-day forum.
“In this forum….we can all discuss with the international and the local community the direction of the Philippine economy,” he said.
Scheduled on November 8 and 9 at the SMX Convention Center in Lanang, Davao City, the PDF will be divided into several working groups, guided by the President’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda.
There will be five major topics during the two-day consultative session, namely: 1) macroeconomic and fiscal policies; 2) peace and development in Mindanao; and 3) infrastructure and competitiveness, including the development of science and technology, building an efficient transport network and improving the ease of doing business; 4) rural development, including land administration and management and food security; and the 5) development of human capital, including social protection programs for the poorest of the poor and the implementation of the reproductive health law.
“This is an opportunity for us to share our development strategy in significantly reducing the poverty rate and making growth inclusive for all Filipinos under the Duterte administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda, and at the same time, generate commitments from our development partners, the LGUs, civil society and other sectors in supporting this agenda,” Dominguez said.
The last PDF formal meeting was held on February 2013, also in Davao City, with around 300 participants from government, international development partners, and other stakeholders. (SDR/Sunnex)