Several PHILJEC members attended the recently concluded NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW FORUM IN MANILA held at the Manila Peninsula on 30 January 2015.  Seen at the Forum were PHILJEC Advisor, former Prime Minister Cesar E.A. Virata, former PHILJEC Chairman Atty. Eusebio V. Tan and PHILJEC Trustees JJ Soriano and Philip Sanvictores.

The keynote speech was delivered by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima who revealed the major components of the “Cebu Action Plan” for regional financial integration which will be presented at the APEC financial ministers meeting in September.  He said he had discussed this earlier in Hong Kong and more recently in Davos, Switzerland.  http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Philippines-to-accelerate-goods-trade

The theme of the Forum was “Countdown to the ASEAN Economic Community: How the Philippines and the Region will Fare:  Opening speeches were delivered by Mr. Naotoshi Okada, Executive Vice-President  of Nikkei, Inc., Mr.  Alfredo Yao, President of PCCI and Mr. Ken Koyanagi, Publisher, Nikkei Asian Review.  After the keynote speech by Sec. Purisima, a panel discussion was held with the following panelists:  Mr. Jayant Menon, Lead Economist, ADB, Mr. Nestor V. Tan, President and CEO of BDO UniBank and Mr. Keisuke Nishimura, Managing Director, Kirin Holdings.  The discussions were moderated by Ms. Gwen Robinson, Senior Asia Editor, Nikkei Asia Review.

Hurdles remain to ASEAN trade integration (website)
Obstacles remain to ASEAN trade integration (magazine)