Philippines Inc. spearheaded the high-profile “Philippines Eminent Group” business delegation composed of key industry leaders who visited Washington, DC for meetings with officials of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the National Security Council and the Pentagon.
Centering on trade, security and other areas of mutual concern, the dialogue with former Indiana senator Richard Lugar, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Andersen, US Export Import Bank director Patricia Loui covered project financing and increasing US investments to the Philippines to further strengthen business ties between the two countries.
The group — led by Philippines Inc. chairman Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco, president Tony Lopa, yours truly as executive vice president, Anvil Business Club’s Jeffrey Ng, Chamber of Mines of the Philippines president Philip Romualdez, Inquirer publisher Raul Pangalangan, Philippine Hotel Federation president Arthur Lopez, Philippines Inc. treasurer Annie Tan-Yee, Raymond Garcia, Jun Periquet and Jun Bella of Harbor Star Shipping — also met with NSC senior director Evan Medeiros, Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear and the Pentagon’s Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs for Asia Brig. Gen. David Stillwell for a briefing on US President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia policy and the global threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
As a group, Philippines Inc., aims to align the many pillars of industry into a robust and globally competitive economic system. Its five-year vision includes orchestrating a turnaround in the business environment to attract new domestic and foreign investments.
The successful Washington visit was organized by leading advisory and consultancy group Stratbase in coordination with Ernest Bower of the prestigious Center for Strategic and International Studies.