HANGZHOU, China—Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said here Wednesday the immense and rapid developments in the field of digital finance not only enhances payments systems and remittance processing across all platforms, but will also make it possible for emerging economies like the Philippines to attain financial inclusion for its citizens.

Dominguez said he looks forward to learning more about e-commerce for rural communities and emerging new business models made possible by new technologies during the three-day New Economy Workshop organized by the Alibaba Business School, an institution focusing on implementing Alibaba Group’s e-commerce training system and empowering leaders and entrepreneurs across the globe with knowledge and insights on how to succeed in today’s digital era.

On behalf of the Philippine officials taking part in the Workshop, Dominguez thanked Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma for “pulling out all the stops” in setting up a comprehensive series of lectures tailor-made for the Philippine setting.

“As a finance professional, I am profoundly impressed by the immense technological progress achieved in the field of digital finance. That progress not only enhances payments systems and improved remittance processing, they make possible a more inclusive financial system,” Dominguez said in his remarks at the opening of the Workshop.

“I am sure these advances will help us make our economic development more inclusive. All Filipinos will benefit from the information and insight we expect to gain over the next few days,” added Dominguez.

Dominguez said the future lies in the evolution of artificial intelligence, in which Alibaba “is at the cutting edge.”

“Artificial intelligence could solve many of our most intractable problems,” said Dominguez.

The New Economy Workshop for Philippine officials is the first overseas government training program organized by the Alibaba Business School.

“This Alibaba Business School’s program will be expanded to more countries in Southeast Asia, underlining our commitment to promoting the new economy paradigm and the role of e-commerce for creating a more inclusive trade and development system,” said Brian Wong, Vice President of Alibaba Group.

Since its founding 18 years ago, Alibaba’s mission has been to make it easy to do business anywhere for small businesses around the world by providing them with the technology and e-commerce skills that are necessary to succeed in the digital world.

Aside from Dominguez, also taking part in the New Economy lecture series are Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Maria Almasara Cyd Tuaño Amador, former Senate President Manuel Villar, Representative Dakila Carlo Cua, Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, Finance Assistant Secretary Mark Dennis Joven, and Vivencio Dizon, president of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

Businessmen George Barcelon, Dennis Uy and Joey Leviste; Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, Deputy Director General Francisco Gamboa of the Philippine National Police and Major General Benito de Leon of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Davao City Public Safety and Security Command Center are also attending the workshop.

“The Filipino delegation is greatly honored by the generous preparations you have made for this workshop. I assure our hosts we shall all be listening intently and looking at ways the new technologies you are developing could find applications in addressing the specific problems we face,” Dominguez said in thanking Ma for hosting the Workshop.

According to Wong, “The New Economy Workshop will incorporate firsthand experience with real-life e-commerce applications in an effort to provide a framework for creating a regulatory environment that encourages growth across the fintech (financial technology), logistics, e-commerce and big data industries.”

The workshop lectures include topics on e-commerce development in China, inclusive finance through digital technologies; rural e-commerce development, cybersecurity, and smart logistics in the digital economy.

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, will also include a lecture on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for smart traffic management, which could become a useful tool to help ease congestion in Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares.

“I have looked at the session schedules the Alibaba Group prepared for us over the next three days. I am deeply impressed not only by the range of topics this workshop will cover but also by the quality of the people who will conduct the briefings. They are Alibaba’s best,” Dominguez said.

Among the speakers scheduled to deliver lectures are Prof. Xiaobo Wu, an economist and former dean of the Zheijiang University School of Management; Dr. Long Chen, the chief strategy officer of the Ant Financial Group, the operator of Alipay and a related company of Alibaba Group; Bill Wang, head of the All-Countryside Business Unit and vice president of the Alibaba Group; Wanli Min, senior director of Alibaba Cloud; Bhushan Patil, president of the India-based e-tailer Paytm; and Guan Xiaodong, head of Cainiao Network International Business.

During his visit here, Dominguez and other finance officials will also meet with Ma to explore innovations in digital commerce that will help fuel the growth of the Philippines’ micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and help attain the Duterte administration’s goal of financial inclusion.

Dominguez and Ma met briefly last November in Manila when the Chinese technology entrepreneur paid a courtesy call to President Duterte in Malacañan Palace. Ma invited Dominguez to visit China to hold more extensive discussions on how to ensure an “enabling financial regulatory environment” for e-commerce growth in the Philippines, with MSMEs as the primary beneficiaries.

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