17th VABC to tackle issues, draft resolutions

Converging around 16 chambers coming from different key cities and regions of Visayas, the upcoming 17th Visayas Area Business Conference that will be held in line with the Mandaue Business Month celebration this August will be tackling inherent issues regarding economic conditions and come up with resolutions.

The 17th VABC organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and hosted by the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) will be held at the Cebu International Convention Center this coming August 14 to 16.

With the theme “Accelerating Growth,” the conference is expected to cover relevant topics that is important for the country's business environment and the business and public sectors of Visayas

PCCI- Visayas vice president Jose Ng in an interview said that the conference will discuss “urgent and timely” issues that concerns business stakeholders from Visayas that needs the attention of the government authorities.

He said that some possible topics that will be discussed during the conference would be the improvement of infrastructure such as transportation, power and water as well as the rising prices of fuel in the market and the issues of food security.

Providing a venue wherein members of the business community can discuss current issues and government policies, the conference would serve as an annual gathering of business and public leaders in order to foster stronger collaboration between the different chambers within the regions, said Ng.

But he stressed that for lack of time since VABC will only be slated for a day, participating chambers are urged to discuss separately issues among their respective members prior to the event to come up with drafted resolutions that will be reviewed and tackled during the event proper.

Ng said that resolutions from each chamber will be used as a basis in coming up with a collective  resolution that will be submitted to the PCCI.

The PCCI will be reviewing these submitted resolutions which will then  be given to the National Government to aide its policy-making and administrative decisions, he explained.

Each year, a different chamber is given the responsibility to host VABC and the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. was last year's host.

Ng said that in the succeeding years, PCCI is considering to change the mode of organizing VABC to foster a stronger inter-chamber relationships instead of making a single chamber handle the event.

This year, at least 200 delegates coming from the 16 active chambers in the Visayas including the Western, Central and Eastern Visayas areas are expected to attend the conference.

Aside from passage of resolutions, topics such as perspective of oneness for the glory of Visayas; coping with the challenges of times; survival elements;  sustainable construction as well as addressing industry mismatch for gainful employments and enhancing competitiveness through Intellectual Property Rights will be discussed by presenters that will include: DOT Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Ambassador Donald Dee, among others.

Due to the convenient location of Cebu being located at the heart of Visayas, organizers of the Mandaue Business Month (MBM) is optimistic to gather more guests and more tourists this year as they have allocated a bigger budget of about P8 million to P10 million for the whole MBM activities, including the 17th VABC. – Rhia de Pablo