President Gloria Arroyo asked Chinese entrepreneurs to help prevent another global financial crisis from happening again through business diversification and financial reforms.
The President made the call in her keynote speech to the 10th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention held Friday morning at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

She said everybody should learn from past mistakes, whether of government policy or of business and financial practices, to make sure the crisis does not happen again.

To avoid a repeat of the global economic downturn, which began in the latter part of 2007, Mrs. Arroyo said countries must diversify their economies and reform the world financial system.

She pointed out that the Philippines, along with other countries with a strong Chinese business community, was able to weather the global financial storm by implementing hard and unpopular but necessary economic and fiscal reforms several years ago.

The country did so with “the support of the Filipino-Chinese business community,” the President said.
Mrs. Arroyo lauded the Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs, whose sharp business sense, hard work and willingness to take risks have become indispensable to the development of their adopted country.
Filipino-Chinese, she noted, have contributed so much “to the country’s unprecedented growth in 34 successive quarters during my administration.”

She said the sterling qualities of the Chinese in the Philippines are on display not only in business and wealth creation but also in socio-civic activities. Chinese entrepreneurs, the President said, could lead the way to prosperity on a global scale.

“I am confident that the more than 3,000 overseas Chinese entrepreneurs gathered here, who come from 20 countries, can help breathe new life into the world economy,” she said.

The four-day convention, scheduled November 19 to 22, carries the theme World Prosperity through Chinese Entrepreneurship: Addressing the Challenges of the Global Crisis.

Organized by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in August 1991, the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention has for several years provided a venue for overseas Chinese entrepreneurs to share business experiences and ideas.

Angelo S. Samonte