President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Departure Statement on Her Visit to the USA
25 September 2007

Tonight we leave for New York to deliver our Country Report to the United Nations General Assembly, to actively participate in two international fora, to meet with US business leaders with present and potential investment in the Philippines, and to meet our kababayans in New York and environs. All these meetings are in pursuit of our policy of active global engagement.

In all these fora, I will bring to our international audience and stakeholders the very important message that is threatened to be drowned by the chronic political noise.

Our economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in 20 years. We have aimed high and have met the challenge: six years ago, no one thought we could get more revenues, cut down on tax cheats, strengthen the peso and move the stock market. And no one thought we could bring our budget into balance, as we did last month, prepay our debts and raise employment, but we have.

Today, the Philippines is on a path to permanent economic growth and stability. Investments are pouring in, the peso is strong, our stock market has reached historic heights and we have created 6 million jobs in six years. And the world is taking notice: I believe the Philippines offers one of the best values in Asia for domestic and foreign investors.

The surge of investments has been anchored by the billion-dollar investments in the Philippines of several major international companies, including Texas Instruments, Korea’s Hanjin and Japan’s Marubeni and Tokyo Electric and lately, America’s AES.

This is happening across the board in a number of industries. We are working to ensure this will be sustained. We are committed to consolidating the gains in new revenue by making long overdue investments in human and physical infrastructure.

This includes billions of pesos in education, healthcare and training along with billions in new bridges, roads and ports to upgrade the competitiveness of the Philippines.

We take great pride in the discipline of our administration to focus on the economy and our overall economic health. I am personally proud of the fact that external debt is being prepaid at a rapid clip, optimistic that we will balance the budget in 2008, two years ahead of schedule, and that we are making sure to use the gains to invest in vital social and economic needs.

As an economist, I believe in the power of the global trading system to alleviate poverty and modernize nations through market forces. This does not mean that we believe that countries like the Philippines are ready to compete head-to-head today in every sector, but it does mean that we cannot afford to be afraid of globalization.

We have been aggressive in seeking multilateral and bilateral trade relations.

We have taken a personal and hands-on role in trying to move the Doha Round forward because I believe it is good for the Philippines. And I believe my faith in the marketplace both at home and abroad has been a boon to the Philippine economy.

Mabuhay. God bless the Philippines.

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PGMA's Remarks during a Luncheon hosted by Mr. Kenneth Tuchman, Chairman of CEO of Teletech
Louie XVI Suite, Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York City, U.S.A.
26 September 2007

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PGMA's Speech during a Coffee and Informal Interaction with Leaders of the Filipino Community
Jade Room, Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York City, U.S.A.
26 September 2007

Maraming salamat Ambassador Gaa sa iyong pagpakilala sa akin.

Ambassador Davide, our Ambassador to the United Nations; siyempre si Cecille rebong na alam niyo na dating Chief of Protocol ko for two years until I had to give her up for New York.

I would like to acknowledge some members of my delegation that I see here. You know, New York is such a busy city, so many of the members of the delegation are all over New York now having their own meetings. But I think I had a glimpse of our Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Girlie Villarosa of Mindoro Occidental; I also saw the Head of the House contingent to the Commission on Appontments, Davao City Congressman Boy Nograles. Ayun; and I think I saw our Press Secretary Toting Bunye; and I believe I saw somewhere the President of the Governors League of the Philippines, Leo Ocampos. Gov., murag kauban ang mga kaigsuonan gikan sa Misamis Occidental; mga kababayan, mga Cabalen, dagiti kakailyan kabaliyan, mga minamahal kong mga kababayan sa buong North Eastern United States, magandang gabi sa inyong lahat.

Ako ay nasisiyahan na makasama kayo muli. Hindi parati nagkakaron ng pagkakataon na magkita tayo pag ako ay nagpupunta sa New York. So, salamat at meron tayong pagkakataon ngayon at kasi importante malapit man o malayo kayo mahalagang tayong mga Pilipino ay nagkakasama-sama -- oh! I see the City Mayor of Legaspi City, Noel Rosal -- and thank you for coming to this event even if it comes at an inconvenient time being in the middle of the week.

Sabi nga ni Cecille na handa kayo sana mag dinner kasama ko sa Friday pero aalis na ako ng Friday after lunch. So, sabi ko kay Jun Paynor, if the 500 Filipinos who are supposed to join me for dinner cannot make it, I mean I cannot make it and they cannot make it another day, kahit na yung mga leaders na lang we’ll have a night cap with them on Wednesday night, or Thursday night na ba ngayon? Thursday night. Eh yun pala of the 500 who were supposed to be there, 200 are here. So, nandito rin kayo lahat kaya maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

Actually, dahil akala ko doon lang tayo sa suite, sa presidential suite dahil nga na-cancel yung malaking dinner hindi na ko naghanda ng diskurso. Pero nung nalaman ko na 200 pala kayo rito sabi ko kahit na konti magbibigay ako ng konting ulat tungkol sa ating bansa.

Our reunion comes at a time when our economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in 20 years. Kanina nga nagsalita ako doon sa Clinton Global Initiative. Nung pumasok ako sa backstage at binati ko si President Clinton, ang unang sinabi niya, “Congratulations! The Philippines is having an economic renaissance.” Kaya kinikilala ito sa buong mundo.

We have aimed high. We have met the challenge. Kung maalala niyo year 2001, walang pera ang gobyerno noon. Nobody thought we could get more revenues. Nobody thought we could cut down on smuggling and tax cheats, at yung piso bumabagsak nang bumabagsak.. Nobody thought we could strengthen the peso, our stock market was down. Nobody thought we could strengthen our stock market, our deficit was ballooning. Nobody thought we could bring our budget into balance, but for the month of august last year, our budget was in balance. We had a budget surplus. And at that time, six years ago, nobody thought we could even pay our foreign debts. Now, we are pre-paying our foreign debts, paying them even before they’re due.

And there were so many people unemployed, four million. Now, the number of unemployed is about a little over a million. So, today, the Philippines is on a path to permanent economic growth and stability. Ang daming mga investments pumapasok, ang lakas ng piso. Sorry na lang sa inyo ha? Pero nakakatulong naman doon sa ating bansa. Ang stock market natin the highest in history, and we have created six million jobs in the last six years. And the world is taking notice. I think today, the Philippines is one of the best values in Asia for foreign investors and for Filipino investors like you who are here in New York and the North Eastern America.

The surge of investments ay... This is anchored by several one billlion-dollar investments like Texas Instruments. Gustong kunin yung kanilang one billion dollars ng China, Chongqing province at saka Dalian, pero nakuha ng Pilipinas, one billion dollars. Ayun! Salamat kay Peter Favila at kay Gary Teves na nandoon ang ating mga Cabinet members. Yung Hanjin ng Korea nagtayo rin ng one billion-dollar shipyard sa Subic, the fourth biggest in the whole world. And they are building the biggest ship in the whole world in their shipyard right now.

Yung Marubeni kasama ng Tokyo electric naglagay ng 3.5 billion dollars para bilhin yung mga power plant ng Mirant, kasi naalala niyo nalugi yung Mirant dito. Pero pagbili nila ng 3.5 billion dollars naglagay sila uli ng 350 million dollars para palakihin yung kanilang planta sa Pagbilao sa Quezon. And lately, the American Electric Power Corporation or AES bought the Masinloc Power Plant in Zambales for 950 million dollars and right away they will expand by another one billion U.S. dollars.

Binabanggit ko lang yung mga billion dollars, hindi ko na binabanggit yung mga 100 million dollars or 500 million dollars -- napakarami. This is happening across the board in a number of industries and we are working to ensure that this will be sustained.

And so Filipinos, in North Eastern America, I want to let you know that we are committed to consolidating the gains in new revenue by making long overdue investments in human and physical infrastructure. Ibig sabihin noon, doon sa value-added tax na nakukubra natin, we’re spending billions for education, we’re spending billions for health care, we’re spending billions for training. Nung araw isang milyon lang ginagamit natin sa training, ngayon, bilyon. We’re spending billions in new bridges, billions in new roads, billions in new ports to upgrade the competitiveness of the Philippines. Talagang pinagmamalaki natin ang ating mga investments pero higit pa doon ipinagmamalaki natin ang ating mga Pilipino dito sa North Eastern America at sa ibayong dagat.

You are honored by your hosts. Halimbawa, yung mga nurses natin, eh kaya naman yung NCLEX doon gagawin ang test sa Pilipinas dahil mahal na mahal nila yung mga nurses na narito, gusto nila marami pang dumating dito. Kaya salamat sa ating mga nurses. Yung ating mga beterano at ang inyong mga anak at apo, mahal na mahal din dito sa America. Kaya sina Senator Inouye, sila Congressman Filner ng California ay masigasig na tinutulak yung Veterans Equity Bill, pati si Senator Akaka rin sa Hawaii. At isa nga doon sa pinag-usapan... Ewan ko kung lumabas sa peryodiko dito yung meeting namin ni President Bush doon sa Sydney. Meron ritratong lumabas sa Pilipinas, meron akong sinasabi sa kanya at linilista niya kung ano yung sinasabi ko. Yun ang mga bilin natin, bilin ninyo at isa dito nga ay lakarin sana yung Veterans Equity Bill.

Kaya itong bill na ito ay nandoon na sa kongreso at senado pero doon sa budget, kasi separate bill yun. Nung... In fact, nung tinanong... Sabi ko kay President Bush, sana matulak yung Veterans Bill. Tinanong niya, “which one, the stand alone version or the version that is included with another bigger bill?” Ibig sabihin noon alam na niya, conscious na siya sa panukalang batas na ito. Pero yung pumasa right now, House and Senate, pupunta sa Bicameral Conference Committee, yung budget ng Pilipinas, yung military assistance ay tumaas at kasama doon sa pagtaas ng budget ng military assistance ay half a million dollars para sa ating Veterans Hospital doon sa Pilipinas.

Yung isa pang binilin ko kay President Bush noon ay yung mga airport doon sa Muslim areas, yung Jolo at saka yung Tawi-Tawi. At ako ay nasisiyahan na bago ako umalis -- I think the day before I left -- si Ambassador Kenney inanunsyo niya na merong three million U.S. dollars, that means 1.5 billion pesos, para magtayo ng airport sa Jolo, sa Sulu. Kaya eto ang mga ginagawa ng America, pero bakit nila ginagawa yuon? Isang malaking dahilan ay meron tayong simbolo ng ating pagkakalapit sa isa’t-isa no other than the Filipino-Americans and the Filipinos who are living here in America. Yung ating artist, si Mr. Florentino, pati mga artist ng Pilipinas ginagalang dito. Kanina nanood kami ng play, nanood kami ng Les Miserables dahil si Lea Salonga ay bida doon. Pero nakita ko of the four leading players, tatlo pala ay Pilipino, playing Fantine, playing Marius and playing Eponine. Talagang kilalang-kilala ang mga artistang Pilipino dito sa Broadway at saka sa America.

And if the American people and American government honor you, even more the Filipino people and the Philippine government honor you for your sacrifice, your dedication to your work, your family and your nation. Alam niyo hindi lamang ang Pilipinas ay may mga overseas citizens or nationals. Halimbawa, yung New Zealand, one-fourth ng kanilang population nasa ibang bansa. Pero ang diperensya ang mga Pilipino eight million in 2001, eight million pa rin ngayon outside the country. Pero noon seven billion ang pinapauwi, ngayon 13 billion dollars na. Same number pero almost double. Yung New Zealand kinekwento nila sa akin, one-fourth ang population nila nasa labas, tayo one-tenth, pero doon negative ang remittance. Yung mga magulang na nasa New Zealand pinapadalhan pa ng pera yung mga anak nung nasa ibayong dagat. Kaya kaiba-iba ang mga Pilipino.

We welcome your contribution but we are working towards the day when Filipinos no longer need to go abroad for a job. We want the day when overseas work will be a career choice and not the only choice left for Filipinos who want to earn a living. And we hope our ambitious economic reforms will help break this offshore cycle. And I hope that these reforms will increasingly be keeping our best and brightest right in the Philippines, closer to friends and families. Halimbawa, yung mga call centers na tinatayo natin doon. Kanina binigyan ako ng luncheon ng presidente ng Teletech, 15,000 ang kanyang empleyado sa Pilipinas, yung kanyang facilities parang meron siyang mukhang country club para sa mga dalaga at binata and young, young and marrieds. Kaya nagpupunta sila doon maaga, doon na sila nagsho-shower, doon sila nag gy-gym bago sila pumapasok sa kanilang trabaho.

And so, therefore, sabi nga nung isang call center agent sa akin, “salamat, presidente na we were able to develop call centers in the Philippines. I don’t have to go abroad anymore. It’s like I’m working in America but I’m working in the Philippines and I’m close to my family.” And that’s what we want, that Filipinos will be closer to friends and families at home and will be able to help build our communities and provide the next generation of leadership.

So, halimbawa, naalala ko merong isang nurse sa london, pagkatapos noon may alaga siyang matanda, namatay yung matanda, sa kanya iniwan yung kanyang mana. Pag-uwi niya nakita na niya yung probinsyang pinanggalingan niya ganun pa rin raw ang itsura mula nung umalis siya, kasi malayong probinsya ito, hindi ko na babanggit kung ano. Kaya tumakbo tuloy ng mayor at dahil sa maraming naitulong na niya na mga civic works eh siya na ngayon ang mayor ng kanyang bayan.

Kaya there is so much that Filipinos can do when you go back home, leadership in the community, leadership in the economy dahil nga gaya nang sabi ko nung araw seven billion dollars lang ang pinapauwi ng ating eight million Filipinos, consumption yun. Ngayon eight million pa rin kasi pag may lumalabas meron ding umuuwi, 13 billion, marami doon ay investments na real estate, real property. Forty percent of the real property market of the Philippines is driven by overseas Filipinos. Kaya maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

And so once again, let me congratulate you on what you have achieved and thank you even as you are valuable members of the American economy and the American community, you continue to be valuable members of the Philippine community and the Philippine family.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

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PGMA's Remarks during the Luncheon Roundtable with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council hosted by Mr. Martin Sullivan, President and CEO of AIG
Norse Suite, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City, U.S.A.
27 September 2007

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Dailey, Ambassador. And to all of you, thank you for being here. And I’m glad to have the opportunity to meet you again. As you have said mart, we had dinner together in Malacañang and I hope to see you again next month. And I’m very happy and grateful for your willingness to share the good news about the Philippines with the rest of the American business community.

What we are seeing in the Philippines now, I believe, is an economy on the path to permanent growth and stability. Why do I say permanent? Because we are following up the gain of raising taxes... With the pain of raising taxes with the gain of investing the proceeds in human and physical infrastructure which will bring in investments and create jobs. And that is the source of long, lasting economic growth and development.

And I’m grateful for several American and other international investors who I’d like to call “The Billion-Dollar Plus Club.” We have Texas Instruments who has started constructing its billion-dollar wafer fab in Clark. And we have AES who bought the Masinloc for 950 million dollars and immediately announced to me a billion-dollar expansion in the same location.

We have other countries as well in this billion-dollar club. We have Korea’s Hanjin who has built the 4th largest shipyard in the world now in Subic and is right now building the biggest ship in the world in that facility. And we have Marubeni and Tokyo Electric who bought the Mirant facilities in the Philippines for 3.5 billion dollars and immediately announced a 350 million-dollar expansion in one of those plants.

So this is happening across the board in a number of industries. I’m glad that some of those industries are being invested in by the American business community so I thank you very much for that. And I want... Aside from the... Acknowledging and nurturing the bilateral relations between our two countries and our two economies, let me assure you that our administration will continue to focus like a laser beam on the economy. Because I think that focus has been what’s gone behind our best economic performance in 20 years. And I hope to continue this focus to make the Philippines an even better place for American investment to be in. Thank you very much for this lunch.

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PGMA's Speech during a Dinner at the Philippine Outsourcing Summit "Roadmap 2010: New Directions in Offshoring and Outsourcing to the Philippines"
Starlight Rooftop, Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York City, U.S.A.
27 September 2007

Well, thank you Peter. Thank you for your introduction.

And may I take this opportunity to congratulate Peter Favila and the Department of Trade and Industry, we just have breaking news that the Department of Trade and Industry units in the provinces are stepping up a campaign to cut red tape after the department's office in Leyte province was awarded as the best in reforms among sub-national government agencies in Asia. So that's a recognition of our efforts to cut down red tape to make investments better for you.

I’d like to thank all of the members of the chamber and the leaders of the chamber for organizing this event, and everybody else that organized not only this event but this afternoon's BPO seminar. So, thank you to the chairman of the chamber, Mr. Rosenberg. Thank you Butch for your introduction also and your welcome remarks, the other sponsors, the business executives from the United States who are here, the Filipino Americans or the Filipinos in America who’ve been very active also in selling the Philippines to America, to all of you tonight, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

I’m very happy to be here in New York once again, not only to attend the U.N. but... Not only to attend the Clinton Forum and Condoleeza Rice's Women Leaders' working group tomorrow, but also I'm in New York this week for a series of business and investment meetings that have been very satisfactory and also for the conference earlier today which I understand was oversubscribed. So, I thank all of the organizers for organizing such a good seminar. And again, I thank the support of the chamber, the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce for hosting a seminar and this dinner.

I’m so happy tonight to see so many high-level business decision-makers in the business community. Thank you for supporting our country and thank you for supporting our development and the development of our thriving outsourcing sector.

Well, I’d like to begin by saying a few things to the participants of the outsourcing seminar. And of course, our Cabinet members and other officials already gave their particular lectures, but I hope that they made the point very well and I think they did, that the Philippines is ranked among the most attractive offshoring destinations in the world because of one thing, cost competitiveness and more importantly because of our country's highly trainable, english-proficient, I.T.-enabled quality management manpower.

The International Monetary Fund 2007 global sourcing study recognizes the Philippines as the "second most preferred offshoring destination after India." well, we don't mind being second to India. After all, India has one billion people and the Philippines only has 80 million people. The statement of the IMF has been echoed by top outsourcing analysts, advisers and sourcing companies, many of them are here today.

And this sector continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The business service sector has become the fastest growing sector in the economy providing 300,000 new jobs since the year 2000. At present, it's a 3.6 billion-dollar industry in the Philippines but they expect it to increase threefold by 2010.

But, and that was our message this afternoon, we don't want to rest on our laurels. While our strength in contact centers is well-established, we are now focused on growing the higher value-added services segment of the knowledge process outsourcing industry, including accounting, legal, human resources and administrative services. We've put together a public-private sector task force to develop a strategic plan for the future development of the bpo sector and we are excited about the potential this holds for our local ICT industry.

And today, I was very happy to realize that in many of my individual meetings -- we're not even just talking about knowledge processing, we're not even just talking about administrative services, human resource, accounting and so on -- a lot of those who have expressed interest in going to the country to the Philippines are on software development, the highest end in ICT. And I am very happy for that.

But I would really like to congratulate all the participants in our BPO industry for the success that they have been able to provide our country. The BPO industry has contributed mightily to the economic renaissance going on in the Philippines right now.

Our economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in 20 years. We've aimed high. We've met the challenge. Your chamber has been hosting me for many years now. And if we remember things six years ago, at that time, no one thought we could get more revenues; no one thought we could cut down on tax cheats and smuggling; no one thought we could strengthen the peso; no one thought we could move the stock market; no one thought we could bring our budget into balance, which we did last month; no one thought we could pre-pay our debts and raise employment, but we have.

So, today, the Philippines is also on a path to permanent economic stability and economic growth. Investments are pouring in, the peso is strong, our stock market has reached historic heights, and we have created six million jobs in six years. And I'm happy to see that the world is taking notice. I'm very proud of the Philippines. I believe it offers one of the best values in Asia today for both Filipino investors and foreign investors.

The surge of investments has been anchored by billion-dollar plus investments in our country of several major international companies, including Texas Instruments; Hanjin of Korea which has built the fourth largest shipyard in the world, which is constructing the biggest boat in the world; Japan's Marubeni which together with electric power, Japan's Electric Power Company bought 3.5 billion dollars worth of the mirant assets in the Philippines and promptly announced a 350 million-dollar expansion of one of the plants; and America's AES which won the Masinloc privatized power plant for 950 million u.s. dollars. And when they called on me announced right away that they are putting another billion dollars to expand that plant.

This is happening across the board in a number of industries and we're working to ensure that this will be sustained. We're committed to consolidating the gains in new revenue by making long overdue investments in human and physical infrastructure. This includes billions of pesos in education, health care and training along with billions in new bridges, roads and ports to upgrade the competitiveness of the Philippines.

On training, we use to put hundreds of millions in our budget. Now, we're putting billions. We take great pride in the discipline of our administration to focus on the economy and our overall economic health. And I'm personally proud of the fact that the external debt is being pre-paid, otherwise, the peso would even be stronger. And it is out of sympathy I guess for our overseas Filipinos that we pre-pay our debts because we can afford to do so now because that way we buy dollars to pre-pay our debts, sort of slows down the strength of the Filipino peso for the sake of our overseas Filipinos in America and elsewhere.

But we can only do that so much, because when you pre-pay a debt the bankers, you know it, you pay a penalty. So, we have to weigh whether the interest we save is bigger than the penalty that we are paying. Otherwise, we'd pay all our debts so that our peso will, you know, your dollar will go a long way in the Philippines when you send that through remittances. But the marketplace doesn't allow it to happen.

But we are optimistic that we will balance the budget in 2008, two years ahead of schedule. And I want to repeat that we're making sure to use the gains to invest in vital social and economic needs. And I think those of you who have known me over the past six years will believe me when I say that we will not sacrifice long-term gains for short-term political expediency.

As an economist, I believe in the power of the global trading system to alleviate poverty and modernize nations through market forces. That doesn't mean I believe that countries like the Philippines are ready to compete head-on-head today in every sector, but it does mean that I recognize we cannot be afraid of globalization. And as president, I have been aggressive in seeking multilateral and bilateral trade relationships.

I have taken a personal and hands-on role in trying to move the Doha round forward because I believe it's good for the Philippines and good for the world. And I believe my faith in the market place both at home and abroad has been a boon to the Philippine economy.

It’s not only the BPO sector that's driving our growth. We also have, as I mentioned earlier, manufacturing like Texas Instruments. We also have tourism, especially eco-tourism which is such a large part of our green Philippine programs and medical tourism. Because our nurses here really are a good sales force to let the people know that there are more of those good ones at home who can take care of you.

And then another driver of our growth is the mining sector which is like the new game in town because it's only a few years ago when the supreme court said that it's open for 100 percent foreign investment, and we expect that this sector will be a 10 billion-dollar industry by 2010. Even today, it is one of the big drivers of our 7.5 percent growth rate and certainly, 10 billion dollars is still a drop in the bucket because our estimated mining reserves are about one trillion dollars. We're the number five mining-endowed country in the world.

And then there is our infrastructure. As I said, we're spending a lot of money on infrastructure. The pains that we suffered in collecting taxes are now being turn to gains in infrastructure, human and physical, and this is another area of investment for B.O.T.

Technology is another important area and energy. We've had our privatization programs but we also have our new green energy programs including our biofuels program because we have a biofuels law in place now.

So, there are so many drivers of growth coming up. And I'm glad that the marketplace is bringing outsourcing and this other half a dozen or so major drivers of growth. And we are excited about your presence here tonight.

For those of you who have been friends of the Philippines because you've been investing there, we encourage you to invest some more. And for those of you who are just getting to know the Philippines, I encourage you also... To those of you who are just getting to know the Philippines right now a little bit, to get to know the Philippines more. And we urge you to come and explore all that the country has to offer you in your business.

We are a good business environment getting even better.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

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PGMA's Address before the 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly "The Philippines in the UN: Building Bridges in the 21st Century"
Plenary Hall, U.N. Headquarters, New York City, U.S.A.
28 September 2007

Mr. President,

Congratulations on your election to the UN General Assembly. Congratulations also to our Secretary-General, H.E. Ban Ki-Moon, who was such a good friend of the Philippines when he was Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea. We embrace his vow to focus on strengthening the three pillars of the United Nations (development, security and human rights).

THE UN IS A PILLAR OF DEVELOPMENT.

It plays a major large role for the Philippines. Poverty alleviation is the most important part of our agenda and our vision to lift the Philippines into a modernized nation in twenty years. We want to be actively engaged in local, regional and global affairs because that is the future.

We believe in the power of the global trading system to alleviate poverty and modernize nations through market forces. That does not mean we believe that countries like the Philippines are ready to compete head-to-head today in every sector, but it does mean that we cannot afford to be afraid of globalization.

By being increasingly connected to the world, the Philippine economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in 20 years.

Six years ago, no one thought we could get more revenues, cut down on tax cheats, strengthen the peso and move the stock market.

And no one thought we could bring our budget into balance, which we did last month, pre-pay our debts and raise employment, but we have. We must both grow our economy and sustain our natural environment at the same time. We are developing and promoting our Green Philippines agenda. It emphasizes a sustainable economic model that brings economic opportunity and a concern for our environment.

At the Secretary General’s High Level Meeting on Climate Change earlier this week, UN member nations focused on what the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol meetings in Bali this December should do.

The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol has allowed developing countries like the Philippines to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through private sector initiatives. But there is a need to expand the carbon market and to expand international cooperation and financial support to promote strategies to adapt to climate change.

Too many nations, developed and developing, believe the environment must be sacrificed at the altar of growth.

We believe otherwise. We believe that we have a unique opportunity to get it right from day one: to introduce new industries that are clean and profitable. This includes a biofuels industry that helps our energy independence, creates jobs and keeps our nation clean for future generations.

We are further developing our geothermal power which is one of the two largest in the world.

We reiterate our commitment to the global trading system and when that fails us, to strengthening ASEAN, APEC and regional relations to bolster our economy.

The multilateral trading system, through the Doha Round, remains the best option to address poverty and improve standards of living around the world through an agreed set of international trade rules.

The Doha Development Agenda was launched with an emphasis on integrating a developmental dimension into all elements of the negotiations.

To make the Doha Round truly a Development Round, there must be greater coherence of policies among international development institutions (e.g. World Bank, IMF, UNDP and WTO) so that trade is mainstreamed in the development agenda and therefore capacity building can be focused on trade competitiveness.

As part of capacity-building, we call on the UN and our partners among developed nations to strengthen South-South cooperation wherein developing nations with specific strengths can share with other developing nations in need of their strength, funded by developed nations or multilaterals like the UNDP.

The developed nations were the prime movers behind global trade when it suited them; now some countries are slowing things down. That is not right nor good for our respective economies.

There has been a ray of hope with the developed countries declaring that they are willing to maximize flexibilities, in exchange for greater market access.

On the sidelines of the UN session, we hope the contending countries can continue consulting to find the right formula of subsidy cuts and market access that will break the Doha impasse.

But let me be clear: even as the Philippines works tirelessly to move the talks forward, we are not going to stand by and do nothing. For us, it is full speed ahead, preferably with Doha, but full speed nevertheless.

We recognize that if the multilateral trading system is fragmented into trading blocs, it will result in a more complex set of trade rules. That could be incompatible and detrimental to the interests of developing countries. In the meantime, while we are hoping for a successful conclusion to the Doha Round, we have to maximize the economic opportunities provided under bilateral and regional free trade agreements. This will complement efforts under the multilateral trading system.

At a time of uncertainty when the Doha Round is faltering, ASEAN took a bold step forward by drafting its Charter.

This is our first step to creating a permanent sense of security.

We are working towards a single market with free movement of goods, ideas and skilled talent.

In APEC, the world’s largest economy, the United States, and the world’s fastest growing economy, China, are active participants.

We have a strong alliance with the US, who remains our largest trading partner as well as our strongest strategic ally. We have stood shoulder to shoulder for many generations. We expect to continue building on our mature relationship with the US.

We have also forged a strong relationship with China. We see China’s rise as a significant opportunity for the Philippines. Our overall relations are now more confident and comprehensive.

Relations are not just about trade. They are also about people. And this includes migration, a world-side reality.

We thank the Secretary General for supporting the Philippines’ hosting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development next year, to which we invite all Member States to participate.

Overseas Filipino Workers are honored by the government and the people for their sacrifice and dedication to their work, their family and their nation. We welcome their contribution. But we are working towards the day when Filipinos no longer need to go abroad for a job, the day that overseas work is just another career option.

We believe that our ambitious economic reforms will increasingly be keeping our best and brightest right in the Philippines, closer to friends and families, helping to build our communities and provide the next generation of leadership.

THE UN IS A PILLAR OF SECURITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS.

It remains the central pillar underpinning conflict resolution.

Our country is among the largest, if not the largest, contributor of police officers to UN peacekeeping missions.

The Philippines has peacekeepers, both police and military, in Afghanistan, Cote D’Ivoire, Georgia, Haiti , Kosovo , Liberia , Sudan and Timor Leste.

We will continue our participation to safeguard communities so that they may overcome conflict and regain the peace needed to pursue development.

Closer to home, I have personally advanced the process of peace in Muslim and Christian Mindanao to a new level of engagement, focused on interfaith dialogue, economic development and mutual security. We have done so with the largest possible international involvement, including the UN. Peace there is very much an issue of human rights, just as alleviating poverty is, which is our number one issue.

The Philippines is the most democratic country in our region. We have no tolerance for human rights violations at home or abroad.

We support the effort to revitalize and refocus the work of the UN in human rights. It is for this reason that the Philippines sought and won a seat in the Human Rights Council.

The attention of the international community has been drawn, with great reason and justification, to the current situation in Myanmar.

Ladies and gentlemen:

This is the time for Myanmar to return to the path of democracy and to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi – now – and to involve all the parties including the National League for Democracy in the democratization and the constitutional process.

IN CONCLUSION

Mr. President.

The number of globe-size issues we will face in the 21st century will require globe-size cooperation. We must build bridges of peace and prosperity. The place to start is building a stronger United Nations.

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