On 12 –13 October 2016, the 42nd Philippine Business Conference & Expo was successfully held in Manila. The plenary theme for the second day is One Belt One Road: Widening the Opportunities for International Trade and Investment. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attended the conference and witnessed the oath of office of the Philippines Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce.
As one of the invited specialists, SRCIC Secretary General Li Zhonghang stated in the panel discussion that China’s proposal for the joint development of “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21 Century Maritime Silk Road” in 2013 has created a huge and interconnected terrestrial and marine network corridor. Europe, Asia and Africa are thus linked together, and free trade and investment facilitation will be enhanced to promote the world economy growth.
The panelists also include Mr. Jin Yuan, Commercial Counselor of Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, Mr. Deng Jun, President of Bank of China Manila Branch and Mr. Yasuhiko Ota, Editorial Writer of Nikkei Inc. The focus of the discussion was on how to seize the opportunities of One Belt OneRoad Initiative to promote the world commerce and investment.
The Vice Chairman of SRCIC, Chairman Emeritus of Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dr. Francis Chua hosted the plenary. The discussion was around the interconnection and intercommunication among One Belt One Road countries, global supply chain and international logistics, how these will influence multilateral trade agreements of ASEAN, TPP, APEC and other regions, how will the Philippines and other developing countries benefit from this new arrangement and share the dividends.
Mr. Li Zhonghang also stressed that SRCIC takes the Silk Road spirit for its actions, peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit and is committed to building a pragmatic and cooperative platform of openness, fairness, justice and sharing for all SRCIC members. SRCIC will facilitate all industrial and business sectors for a better involvement in One Belt One Road construction to achieve a win-win future.