World Economic Forum on East Asia

Echoes From

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

Some 600 delegates from 30 countries – representing government, business, civil society, and academe – gathered in Manila this week for the 23rd World Economic Forum (WEF). They focus on the economies of East Asia that covers the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) which, aggregately, constitutes the world’s 8th largest economy.

ASEAN includes Brunei Darrusalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. A few of them are now well developed, while the others are rapidly-growing middle income countries or emerging economies. Together, they hold a population of about 600 million.

One very important WEF’s concern focuses on the sustainability of the economic growth of countries and how it could be distributed equitably. Leaders of the WEF, however, lightly dwell on how the poor could be benefited.

The WEF delegates converge in Manila against a backdrop of the impressive growth rates of the region, tempered by persistent disparities in competitiveness and development.

Thus, outside the WEF meeting halls, millions of poor Filipinos who are languishing in hunger, malnutrition, and disease, have expressed the hope that the WEF would also help liberate them from poverty and inequitable distribution of wealth. 

The WEF also trains its eyes on the immediate possibility of strengthening food security in the region which looks forward to the integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ economies next year. Of ASEAN’s 600 million population, more that 50% lives in rural areas, most of them dependent on agriculture for income and employment.

While millions of Filipinos have been lifted out and liberated from dire poverty because of overseas employment, the number of hungry Filipinos remains high. Some 12 million are unemployed while more are underemployed. 

Talking of strengthening our food security, the achievements of other ASEAN countries could be good models. They focus on efforts to improve priority value crops – ranging from rice, corn, and potatoes to palm oil, coffee, tea, and cocoa. They have increased farm productivity and profitability, even as they grapple with climate change and its devastating effects. 

They have also addressed issues such as supply-chain inefficiencies, access to agri-finance, and how to attract investment and maximized use of technology.