PBBM picks World Economic Forum in Switzerland to pitch for it
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will present the country’s economic performance and its plans to establish a sovereign wealth fund before global leaders and chief executive officers (CEOs) of the world’s biggest companies at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
“The President will be leading our economic team composed of government officials and business leaders and we will present the country’s economic performance, which tops growth in the region, before an audience of international CEOs,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Carlos Sorreta said in a press briefing Thursday.
“At the briefing this morning, the President said that we are developing all these excellent fundamentals, and there’s much that we can offer investors, and he said ‘You know, let’s talk about the sovereign wealth fund that’s being set up,'” Sorreta added.
The DFA official said that the President’s plan to introduce the Philippine’s sovereign wealth fund is just a “soft launch.”
“It’s really more of a soft launch, it’s to introduce it. I understand it is evolving, we have the fullest respect for the congressional process, and the open hearings that they’re having, and how to work out the details. But in broad strokes, the President has very, very good grasp of what he wants to achieve, whatever form the sovereign wealth fund finally takes,” Sorreta said.
The WEF, Sorreta said, is the premier forum for world and business leaders to get together, interact and come up with ideas and plans to address the many challenges and opportunities facing the global economy.
“The President goes to Davos at a time when our country and our region is recovering well from past challenges, where projections remain high for economic growth in our country and our region,” Sorreta said.
President Marcos will also participate in a high-level dialogue with other leaders, including the president of South Africa, the prime minister of Belgium, and the president of the European Commission, among others during his trip to Switzerland from Jan. 16 to 20.
In addition, Mr. Marcos is also set to discuss the issue of global nutrition during a stakeholders’ dialogue.
During his trip to Switzerland, the President is expected to hold business meetings and a session with the Filipino community.
This year’s WEF Annual Meeting carries the theme, “Cooperation in a Fragmented World.”
Malacañang press briefer Daphne Oseña-Paez said the President will seize the opportunity to highlight the Philippine government’s readiness to put a premium on key areas, such as food and energy security, digitalization and climate action.
Marcos, Oseña-Paez said, is also bullish on attracting more investments, promoting beneficial trade, addressing inequality and providing accessible social services.
Marcos is the only Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leader and one of the two Asian leaders to attend this year’s WEF, Sorreta said.
Sorreta said Marcos will be in a “wonderful position” to prove that the Philippines, as well as the ASEAN and the East Asia region, can be the “engine of growth for the world economy.”
WEF, established in 1971, serves as an international organization for public-private cooperation.
The annual WEF convenes leaders from government, business and civil society to address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead.
At the press briefing, Sorreta brushed aside suggestions that the President would take up the issue of the Swiss accounts of his family.
In January 2009, Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that assets amounting to more than $8 million deposited by an associate of Marcos’ father, the former president of the Philippines, should be returned to the Philippines, the government of which at the time claimed that the funds were ill-gotten.