Closing Remarks

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Closing Remarks by: Mr. Apolinar Suarez Jr. Trustee – Non-metals Sector. General Membership Meeting and Christmas Party. Sofitel Hotel * Dec. 10, 2010.
Closing Remarks by: Mr. Apolinar Suarez Jr. Trustee – Non-metals Sector General Membership Meeting and Christmas Party Sofitel Hotel * Dec. 10, 2010

Fellow PHILEXPORT Trustees, exporters, our distinguished guest, Secretary Cayetano Paderanga, PHILEXPORT management and employees, ladies and gentlemen: With the predominantly upbeat prospects and developments that we heard from our eminent keynote speaker, the report of our President and even from the Opening Remarks of our Chairman, I close the first part of tonight’s event with optimism for the year ahead. As we welcome the New Year, however, we are reminded of the several tasks ahead on the back of the many shifts that happened. We have been trying to respond to the need to adopt much-improved and even unorthodox approaches and strategies to take advantage of the opportunities in the global marketplace and to ultimately propel us to a sustainable growth path. These new strategies were already being fine-tuned in the drafting of the Philippine Export Development Plan. The PHILEXPORT along with its partners in the government and the private sector have aimed the PEDP at penetrating the increasingly lucrative markets of our fellow developing countries and being able to find niche markets for our traditional and non-traditional exports.

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We are glad that the current government is one with us in working towards fostering a globally competitive business environment for our small and medium enterprises. Many of the bills that we deem crucial for enhancing export competitiveness, such as the modernization of the Bureau of customs, the amendments to the tariff and customs code and the amendments to the EPIRA law have all made it to the list of the priority bills of the Legislature. With both the legislative and executive branches of the government perceiving the importance of these bills in achieving sustainable growth and creating adequate employment opportunities for our people, we expect other competitiveness-enhancing bills to be ratified soon. Meanwhile, the emphasis given by the current leadership on public private partnership should provide us one more reason to look forward to the effective implementation of these crucial policy and institutional reforms. While it appears that we will have to continue to face some more challenges, it is reassuring to see that we are facing them as a unified, hopeful force. Having said this, I end the first part of our meeting and invite you all to enjoy the rest of the night. Have a Merry Christmas and let the party begin!

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