Business E-Journal: February 2023
As a proactive business institution representing the Swiss private sector presence in the Philippines, the Chamber sees to it that our members’ interest are communicated to the government and society for transparency and shared prosperity. Our constant engagement with the public sector likewise add value in terms of alignment, regulatory updates, and business forecasting. Thus, in this issue, we highlight our opportunity to sit in a dialogue and discuss shared observations about the country with NEDA Director General Arsenio Balisacan and Senate Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship Committee Chairperson Mark Villar. These two government offices are primary agents to ushering economic reform agenda for a more globally competitive and business friendly Philippines. Through these frank exchanges and direct dialogues, initiatives are formed and joint activities are formulated. It is through knowledge-sharing that innovations are sparked and changes taking place.
Speaking of transparency, we cover in this issue Switzerland’s South East Asia Strategy 2023- 2026, which outlines objectives and measures for multilateral and bilateral dimension of Switzerland’s relations with South East Asia including the Philippines centered on peace and security, prosperity, sustainability and digitalisation. These focus areas reverberate SwissCham priority themes as well, which means that we hope to encourage more participation from member-companies and partners on these topics.
We are always enthused to learn of new business prospects or expansions, thus we made time to visit the manufacturing plant of Blue Macay in Laguna as it wishes to reach and look for partners in Switzerland and the wider EFTA and European region. MSMEs play a vital role not just in domestic progression but likewise global supply chain stability, and our Chamber supports capacitating our MSME sector specially under the framework of PH-EFTA FTA.
All these efforts seemed to capture the very essence of Horia Adrian’s Executive Insight – advancing initiatives to be part of the solution thereby promoting innovative and sustainable alternatives. Holcim embeds sustainability at the nucleus of its operations and corporate practices, and we want to hear more and more stories on our Swiss companies taking a single step towards a more ecologically-friendly business models.
Our huge thanks also to PMFTC and Prozone Xpress for their continued support to the activities of the Chamber and making sure that our organization grow and responsive to the needs of our community through your active membership.
We aim to do more and convene impactful events / dialogues for this year.
Hence, we remind our members to update their membership profiles so we can include your companies in our 2023 SwissCham Membership Directory – a copy of which will be sent to those who filled out the update form.