09 AUGUST 2023, PERTH – Philippine Ambassador to Australia H.E. Ma. Hellen B. De La Vega engaged more than 100 Perth-based Filipino-Australian business networks in an economic spotlight forum organized in collaboration with the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Perth led by Consul Virma Symons on 07 August 2023. The forum centered on economic developments and investment opportunities in the Philippines.

Ambassador De La Vega stated that the Philippines is among the fastest-growing economies in both the Asian region and the world, with the country's GDP accelerating to an impressive 7.6% in 2022. This is the highest recorded growth rate since 1976. She emphasized the importance of harnessing the Philippines' competitive advantage as a service export powerhouse, especially in nurturing the IT-BPM sectors.

“As we work on growing our economy, we also focus on enhancing the capabilities of Filipinos through education, employment, and the continuous reskilling and upskilling training programs”, Ambassador De La Vega said.

She underscored the vision of “FILIPINNOVATION" where science, technology and innovation serve as the foundation to drive the quality and competitiveness of the Filipino workforce and the Filipino manufacturing, export, creative, and service industries. She noted the invaluable contributions of the 46,000 Filipino-Australian diaspora in Western Australia and urged them to consider opportunities to develop stronger commercial ties between the Philippines and Australia.

The Ambassador also stated that the government is moving ahead with the implementation of game-changing economic reforms such as the newly established green lanes that aim to expedite the processing of necessary licenses and permits for investment.

The green lanes were established through Executive Order No. 18 signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on 23 February 2023. The EO is a response to calls to expedite, streamline, and automate government approval and registration processes of priority investments and strategic investment. Strategic investments are those in line with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

Its outstanding feature is the provision for simultaneous processing of applications wherein national government agencies and local government units that receive applications for permits and licenses are mandated to process the same with the presumption that the relevant documents from other agencies have already been issued. In this process, the applying firm will also execute an affidavit of undertaking to have obtained the necessary documents from specific agencies and ensure the submission of the full documentary prerequisites within 30 working days.

Western Australia accounts for 36 percent of Australia’s overall bilateral trade with the Philippines in 2022. With about A$2 billion worth of goods traded in 2021-2022, the Philippines ranks as the 15th largest trading partner of Western Australia. - END