MANILA, Philippines — With its “unique demographic advantage and ongoing reforms to open up the economy,” the Philippines is now an “ideal destination” for foreign investments, Speaker Martin Romualdez told leaders and representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered for the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland.
In his discussion with ASEAN leaders, Romualdez also cited as plus factor the country’s “very, very young working population with the median age of 25 years old.”
“We also have an English-speaking population that provides this facility for communications not just within the ASEAN but throughout the international global community,” he said in remarks during the forum.
“As opposed to the past decade when there was a bit of an isolation of the Philippines, the Philippines is open for business: we welcome the global community, we want to share our talents, our gifts to the whole world,” he said.
He also lauded ASEAN for its centrality, as members can communicate with each other easily despite their “diverse cultures, languages and practices.”
“And that’s why it’s not such a big surprise that after the COVID pandemic we the ASEAN emerged as the bright spot in the global economy, of course I’d like to put the Philippines up front,” he pointed out.
The speaker also apprised ASEAN leaders of the ongoing initiatives among his colleagues in Congress to remove what he called restrictive provisions in the 1987 Constitution.
“We want to share our talents, our gifts to the whole world. We leverage from the experience of our neighbors in the ASEAN, Vietnam, and Thailand that have proven to be stalwarts in the region,” he maintained.