Philippines

The 2011 Philippines Development Forum (PDF) was held at the Sofitel Philippine plaza, Pasay city, Philippines on February 26, 2011. The PDF is a multi-stakeholder forum... Show More + that facilitates substantive policy dialogue on the country's development agenda among participants from national and local government units, civil society, academia, private sector, and the international development partners. As in past PDFs, the Government of the Philippines, led by the Department of Finance, organized and chaired the 2011 PDF. Finance secretary Cesar Purisima served as the Chair of the meeting. The World Bank, represented by World Bank Country Director for the Philippines, Mr. Bert Hofman, served as co-chair and co-organizer for the meeting. President Simeon Benigno Aquino delivered the closing remarks. Government representatives at the meeting included cabinet secretaries and other high-level officials from various Government agencies. Similar to previous PDFs, the meeting did not include a pledging session. Being the first PDF under the Aquino administration, the meeting discussed the draft 2011-2016 Philippines Development Plan (PDP) and the Government's priorities. The 2011 PDF also set the stage for aligning of the PDF working groups with the new cabinet cluster setup. Show Less -

The 2007 Philippines Development Forum (PDF) was held in Cebu, Philippines from March 8 to 9, 2007. As in past PDFs, the Government of the Philippines, led by the Department... Show More + of Finance, organized and chaired the 2007 PDF and the World Bank co-chaired. The overall theme of the 2007 PDF was "Achieving Broad-Based Growth through Sustained Reforms and Higher Investments." The four break-out sessions were organized along the following themes: achieving broad-based growth; sustaining fiscal progress; enhancing competitiveness; and nurturing regional and local growth. At the plenary session, Government laid out significant plans to address three challenges: first, an overall investment rate in the Philippines, which, at percent of GDP, represents an extraordinarily low level, raising questions about sustainability and achievability of higher growth; second, unemployment and poverty that remain high despite growth; and third, growth whose benefits are not yet sufficiently shared across sectors, regions and communities. At the break-out sessions, the participants discussed specific actions needed to respond to these challenges, while the closing remarks addressed fiscal reforms and financial improvements. Show Less -