The Philippines intends to carry out a massive infrastructure plan under “Dutertenomics” to complement China’s new Silk Road initiative towards strengthening Asia Pacific connectivity.

President Duterte’s economic managers made the pitch for the “Dutertenomics” before the business community on the sidelines of the “Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation” in Beijing.

“We in the Philippines welcome One Belt, One Road as the way to realize our longstanding dream of Pan-Asian connectivity,” Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said during the forum at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here.

“The infrastructure we will build under Dutertenomics is our own small contribution to realizing that dream,” he said.

China had earlier promised to invest billions of dollars to build a vast trade and transportation network connecting nations along the old Silk Road and maritime route. The plan, first unveiled in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, aims to expand trade links between Asia, Europe, Africa, and beyond.

The Duterte government’s ambitious economic strategy, on the other hand, will require around P8 billion in infrastructure spending to accelerate poverty reduction and transform the Philippines into an upper middle-income economy by 2022. Among the major infrastructure projects lined up in the “Build, Build, Build” program are airports, roads, bridges, and railways across the country.

“Dutertenomics is the brand we’ve given to the President’s philosophy and strategy for economic governance,” Abella said.

“It’s a strategy that’s driven by our dream of building a nationwide infrastructure network that will connect all of our 7,000 thousand islands into one cohesive and dynamic whole, into Asia’s newest tiger economy,” he said.

Abella also identified “profound implications” in the Dutertenomics for the Pan-Asian transportation network proposed by the “One Belt, One Road” scheme proposed by China.

He said the lengthy sea route that seeks to connect the North Asian coastline to the islands of Southeast Asia will benefit from a fully developed maritime hub in Subic, Philippines.

“This is where we already have our biggest shipyards, as one of the world’s four largest shipbuilders. It is also where we plan to build a cargo railway that will connect Subic to the air and land transportation hub at Clark,” he said.

From Clark, Abella said the government intends to provide road and rail access to the seaport of Manila that bypasses the crowded streets of the capital.

Another way to extend the connectivity of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative is the new shipping route that connects Mindanao and Bitung, Indonesia.

Abella said President Duterte and Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently launched the roll-on, roll-off ferry service between Philippine cities of Davao and General Santos and the Indonesian city of Bitung.

“With this new service, people and commodities being transported from Indochina down to Indonesia may be carried overnight ferry to Mindanao, the President’s home region,” he said.

He said the public could also travel to the rest of the country through the new and improved land, sea, and air networks the Duterte government plans to build.

“This project will also strengthen the sub-region of BIMP-EAGA, an important terminating point for One Belt One Road. It will improve the capacity of the four-member countries to participate in trade and investment with the rest of the region,” he said.

Also highlighting “Dutertenomics” program in Beijing were Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

PH, MONGOLIA RELATIONS

The Philippines and Mongolia have agreed to revitalize bilateral relations and develop new areas of cooperation such as trade and investment, agriculture, and tourism.

The agreement was reached during the “interesting and productive” meeting between President Duterte and Mongolian Prime Minister Jargaltulgyn Erdenebat on deepening bilateral ties at the Grand Hyatt Hotel last Sunday.

“Our bilateral relationship is still very young with Mongolia. It’s still not very well-developed. This also means that there’s a lot of potential,” Evangeline Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq, executive director of the Department of Foreign Affairs – Asia and Pacific Affairs.

“The President and the Prime Minister spoke about how to develop these areas of cooperation. For example, in agriculture, in tourism, in trade and finance,” she added.

The two leaders also talked about enhancing political and institutional relationships, apart from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other regional developments during their bilateral meeting,

“We have a regular meeting between foreign ministries. So I think both sides are very interested to institutionalize this relationship among (and) between foreign ministries,” Ducrocq said.

The two sides agreed to hold exchange of visits among the senior officials of their respective countries in order to explore opportunities to expand economic, political and cultural ties.

Erdenebat said that Mongolia looked forward to convening the next round of consultations in order to review and strengthen the cooperation of the two sides.

On peace and security situation in the region, Ducrocq said the President expressed his view “that peace is better served when there is more participation by stakeholders in the region.” Mongolia is an important stakeholder, she added.

“These are generally the lines that they discussed. It was a very interesting and productive meeting because it’s a young partnership and there’s a long way to go, there’s a lot of potential,” she said.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH

Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday urged major multilateral institutions to join his new Belt and Road Initiative, stressing the importance of rejecting protectionism in seeking global economic growth.

Addressing other world leaders at a summit on the initiative in Beijing, Xi said it was necessary to coordinate policies with the development goals of institutions including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), ASEAN, African Union and the European Union.

Xi pledged $124 billion on Sunday for his new Silk Road which aims to bolster China’s global leadership ambitions by expanding links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond, as U.S. President Donald Trump promotes “America Firs.”

“We need to improve policy coordination and reject beggar-thy-neighbor practices,” Xi told the 29 national leaders attending the forum.

Xi, who was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was speaking at a convention center by a lake in northern Beijing on the summit’s second and final day.

“This is an important lesson that can be drawn from the global financial crisis and is still very relevant to the development of the world economy today,” he said.

“We need to seek win-win results through greater openness and cooperation, avoid fragmentation, refrain from setting inhibitive thresholds for cooperation or pursuing exclusive arrangements and reject protectionism.” (With a report from Reuters)

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Genalyn Kabiling

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