Palace hires international board of advisers

President Arroyo has assembled an international board of advisers composed of former statesmen and top private businessmen, Malacañang announced yesterday.

The powerhouse team, which Malacañang maintains will serve pro bono, includes former US Ambassador Stephen Bosworth and former Prime Minister Paul Keating of Australia, and executives from Japanese firms.

"As far as I know, they won’t be paid. This kind of people will not ask for such fees but it is important for them to do this in order to maintain their networking contacts," Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said.

"This is a gathering of respected business and aca-demic leaders. I’m not sure if they will be paid because how can you pay people like Maurice Greenberg?" Press Secretary Noel Cab-rera asked, referring to the chairman of the American International Group who is one of the advisers.

The official announcement was released on the eve of Mrs. Arroyo’s departure for a four-day working visit to Japan.

"The reputation that the business and academic leaders bring with them is an added bonus drawing the attention of the world business community to the Philippines," the Palace office quoted President Arroyo as saying.

"The world’s business community will also send the right signal that the Arroyo leadership is making its vision of harnessing the country’s most important asset – the Filipino people – to be globally competitive and to make the country a meaningful participant in the global economy," it added.

Aside from Greenberg, Bosworth and Keating, who is now dean of the Fletch School of Tufts University, other members of the board are: Minoru Makihara, chairman of Mitsubishi Corp.; Junico Miyazu, president of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT); Gerard Corrigan, managing director, Goldman Sachs; Dr. Victor Fung, chairman of Li and Fung Group; Maarten van den Bergh, chairman, Lloyds TSB Group; Dr. Stephen Zuellig, chairman, Zuellig Group; and Anthony Burghmans, chairman, Unilever.

Roberto Romulo, presidential adviser on international competitiveness, is the executive director of the board.

Mrs. Arroyo will convene the inaugural meeting of the international board of advisers in Manila this November.

The Palace added that the board is "expected to assist President Arroyo in identifying and examining the various aspects that define a country’s ability to compete toe-to-toe in the global marketplace."

It said these could include specific business, industrial, agricultural and government practices that inhibit international competitiveness.

The board will also recommend specific solutions.

The President will meet with her two Japanese advisers during her visit to Tokyo Thursday.

Mrs. Arroyo, Mitsubishi’s Makihara and NTT’s Miyazu will discuss a wide range of topics on competitiveness from the Japanese perspective.

Mitsubishi is a major player in electronics, automotive, information and communications technology, banking, manufacturing and trading, while NTT is a partner of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart.