Mactan, Cebu—Infrastructure spending meant to further strengthen regional connectivity within the ASEAN plus the benefits of such investments to the sustainable growth of the region’s 10 member-economies will take center stage in this year’s 12th session of the ASEAN Finance Ministers Investors Seminar (AFMIS).

The AFMIS will be held at the Shangri-La Mactan Hotel here on Thursday (April 6).

A plenary session of the ASEAN finance ministers will be held in the morning, followed by a networking lunch with global financial institutions and multilateral companies that have a strong presence in the region.

The afternoon will be devoted to AFMIS breakout sessions, including one that will discuss infrastructure investments as a vehicle for sustainable growth in the region amid current global market volatilities.

Three more breakout sessions will separately tackle prospects for e-commerce as a new business frontier for ASEAN, trade facilitation and cooperation in the regional bloc, and the rising consumer market in the region’s economies.

In the breakout session on infrastructure investments, keynotes speeches will be delivered by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade of the Philippines and Dr. Supee Teravaninthorn, Director General of the Investment Operations Department of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Yingxin Gao, executive vice president of the Bank of China Group will moderate the session.

Among the panelists at the infrastructure forum are: Colin Chen, deputy general manager of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.; Yin Zaw Myo, managing director, Myanmar Economic Bank; Luo Yang, managing director, Silk Road Fund Co. Ltd.; Boonchai Charassangsomboon, international economic advisor, Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance of Thailand; Jose Maria Lim, president and CEO, Metro Pacific Investment Corporation; and Mr. Yee Ping Yi, deputy secretary (policy), Ministry of Finance of Singapore.

ASEAN finance ministers are also set to exchange views on further harnessing investment opportunities within the 10-member regional bloc amid the current slowdown in global growth during the AFMIS.

They will also discuss the progress of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which is designed to create a single market and production base within ASEAN through the free flow of goods, skilled labor, services and investments among its 10 member-states.

The whole-day event will commence with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III of the Philippines, this year’s ASEAN host, and ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Lim Hong Hin delivering their respective welcome remarks.

Finance Ministers Pehin Dato Abdul Rahman Ibrahim of Brunei Darussalam; Sri Mulyani Indrawati of Indonesia; Johari Abdul Ghani of Malaysia; Apisak Tantivorawong of Thailand; and Secretary of State Sokha Nguon of Cambodia are expected to attend the AFMIS and the series of high-level meetings at the Shangri-La Mactan Hotel.

ASEAN, which was founded 50 years ago, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

It established the AEC, which officially commenced on Dec. 31, 2015, comprising a market of 600 million people or about eight percent of the world’s population.

ASEAN is the seventh largest economy in the world with a combined GDP of US$ 2.5 trillion as of 2015. It also has the third largest labor pool and is the world’s fourth largest exporting region.

This year marks a milestone for the ASEAN, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with the Philippines as host. The 2017 ASEAN theme is “Partnering for Change, Engaging the World.”

The ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors are set to discuss ways to flesh out ASEAN’s commitments to financial integration and cooperation against the backdrop of a new wave of protectionism and other uncertainties in the global economy in their April 6-7 sessions here in the province of Cebu.

Hosted by Dominguez and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. the conferences include separate meetings of the ASEAN finance ministers and the central bank governors and the third Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Joint Meeting.

A joint press conference by the finance ministers of the immediate past (Lao Republic), present (Philippines) and future (Singapore) ASEAN chairs will be held after the Joint Meeting.

The official gatherings of the ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors were preceded by a series of meetings and fora among the ASEAN finance deputies and central bank deputies last April 4-5.

An ASEAN + 3 Finance and Central Deputies Meeting with China, Japan and Korea and a separate ASEAN-US Treasury Deputies Meeting was held on April 5, while the BSP-Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum Debate was held last April 3.

Tetangco hosted a dinner reception on April 5, to be followed by a gala dinner hosted by Dominguez on April 6.