25th Mindanao Business Conference

The 25th Mindanao Business Conference (MinBizCon) will be held on 24-26 August 2016 at the Philippine Gateway Hotel in Surigao City. The three-day conference is expected to expand business opportunities in the region with the year’s theme “Mindanao: ASEAN’s Emerging Economic Hub”.

Surigao Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) with its president and conference director Concepcion Paqueo confirmed that President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte will be attending the event. “It will also be historical since the Keynote Speaker for the 25th MinBizCon is the new elected President”, Paqueo added.

Invited guest speakers for the event are National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Ernesto Pernia; Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chairperson and secretary Luwalhati Antonino; Dr. Felipe Medalla from the monetary board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary Emmanuel Piñol; Department of Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez; and World Bank senior economist Dr. Karl Kendrick Chua.

The event is expected to be attended by 800 - 1,000 delegates comprising Cabinet Secretaries of the new administration, Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Mindanao, investors, business leaders, policy-makers, industry players, mining companies, contractors, micro/small/medium enterprises, heavy equipment companies and other allied services, business professionals and students.

The conference objectives are to tackle business issues and policies that undermine development, identify solutions, and pass resolutions aimed to position Mindanao as the next growth area in the ASEAN. “This Mindanao Policy and Program Agenda will then be endorsed to His Excellency Rodrigo Duterte as input to the six-year Mindanao Development Plan,” Paqueo iterated. ●