World Economic Forum President Børge Brende; Speaker Martin Romualdez; Secretary Arsi Balisacan; Secretary Go; Secretary Lotilla; Governor Eli; fellow workers in government; friends and partners from the private sector all over the world; esteemed guests: good evening.

On behalf of the Philippine Government, I extend a warm welcome to all of our esteemed guests here tonight. Thank you for flying all the way to Manila to join us.

We are thrilled to have you here as we officially kick off the World Economic Forum Country Roundtable on the Philippines.

I thank our partners at the World Economic Forum and the teams at the Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for making this event possible.

The timing of our gathering could not have been more auspicious. These are very exciting times for the Philippines, and we want you to witness firsthand our promising growth story and become part of it.

The Philippine economy has been consistently hailed as one of the star performers in the fastest-growing region in the world.

Through tumultuous times and fierce headwinds, our fiscal strength and economic resilience have been put to the ultimate test and proven strong.

Our stellar growth performance, solid credit profile, and steady fiscal consolidation can attest to this.

Major international organizations and multilateral institutions paint a rosy picture up ahead for the Philippines.

We consider this a strong vote of confidence in our ability to orchestrate a rapid economic expansion in the years to come.

Our shared optimism has a compelling basis, for it is underpinned by a proven track record of fiscal discipline and a long list of competitive advantages – from our young demographic profile to a favorable investment climate.

Not to mention an enticing array of business-friendly reforms and a string of ready-to-implement big-ticket infrastructure projects that will spur growth.

As we convene tomorrow, we will dissect and explore these factors in greater detail. We will illustrate how the Philippines is steadily advancing to become a global superpower.

I trust that our discussions will swing wide open the doors to new opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships.

Let me emphasize though that this Country Roundtable is not just about the Philippines’ growth story – it is ultimately about building a shared future together.

It is about the linkages we can form to fortify individual strengths and find creative solutions to tackle emerging challenges.

So I invite all of you to use this time to engage in rich and meaningful dialogues and explore bold ideas on how we can work together to bring about a genuinely inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous future for all.

Once again, thank you for coming out tonight, and let us all have a wonderful time this evening.