NEAT Philippines Working Group Meeting on ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation on MSMEs: Accelerating Digital Adoption to Thrive in the New Normal

Source: NEAT Philippines Secretariat taken during the NEAT Philippines WG meeting on ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation on MSMEs: Accelerating Digital Adoption to Thrive in the New Normal, 21 July 2021

The third working group (WG) of the Network of East Asian Think Tanks (NEAT) this 2021 was hosted by NEAT Philippines led by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Philippines, University of the Philippines Asian Center (UP Asian Center), and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Philippines. The WG meeting was held last 21 July 2021, 1300-1650H (GMT+8) via Cisco Webex with the theme “ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Cooperation on MSMEs: Accelerating Digital Adoption to Thrive in the New Normal”.

The objectives of this WG meeting were as follows:

1. To provide policy recommendations to accelerate the MSMEs digital adoption and enhance its participation to the digital economy to thrive in the new normal under the APT cooperation on MSMEs;
2. To provide a venue for knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices on policies and programs on accelerating MSME digitization and enhancing participation in digital economy among APT through the NEAT WG on MSMEs meetings and workshops;
3. To review existing MSME APT regional cooperation initiatives and mechanisms to advance MSME digitization and enhance MSME participaton to digital economy; and
4. To contribute to Brunei Darussalam’s Priority Economic Deliverables under Digitazation through undertaking collaborative research by documenting the status of MSME digitization and their participation  in the digital economy.

The meeting was attended by 32 participants from 11 APT countries. The main agenda of the meeting is the presentation of research outcomes. Divided into 3 sessions, nominated experts presented their research findings, some shared country level experiences while others provided some regional perspectives on the above-mentioned theme.  Ms. Jean Clarisse Carlos acted as the master of ceremonies, introduced the speakers for the opening ceremonies and facilitated the transitions of the sessions to the esteemed moderators.

In the opening ceremonies, the outgoing Philippine NEAT Country Coordinator and PIDS President, Dr. Celia M. Reyes, welcomed the participants and expressed her gratitude to the panel of experts, moderators and discussants for their significant contribution to the WG. She also introduced the incoming PIDS President and NEAT Philippines Country coordinator, Dr. Aniceto Orbeta, Jr. who moderated the session 2.

The Director of the Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development of the Department of Trade and Industry Philippines, Mr. Jerry Clavesillas gave an opening address highlighting the crucial importance of the theme at a time of great uncertainty and the need for dialogues with stakeholders, e.g. think tanks to guide government decisions.

Source: NEAT Philippines Secretariat taken during the opening address of Director Clavesillas

The first session was moderated by Dr. Josef Yap, a former PIDS President and NEAT Philippines Country Coordinator. Representatives from China, Indonesia, Japan, and Philippines presented their studies. The former Dean of the UP Asian Center, Dr. Joefe Santarita, led the discussion by reacting to the presentations and asking questions to the presenters.

Source: NEAT Philippines Secretariat taken during the presentation of Dr. Masahiro Kawai of Japan on session 1

The second session was moderated by the incoming PIDS President Dr. Aniceto Orbeta. Representatives from the Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines presented their studies. Mr. Jovito Katigbak of FSI led the discussion by reacting to the presentations and asking questions to the presenters.

Source: NEAT Philippines Secretariat taken during the presentation of Dr. Juita Mohamad of Malaysia on session 2

The last session was moderated by Dr. Francis Mark Quimba, Director of the Philippine APEC Study Center Network and PIDS Senior Research Fellow. NEAT colleagues from Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Lao PDR shared their studies. The moderator led the discussion by reacting to the presentations and to the presenters.

Source: NEAT Philippines Secretariat taken during the Q&A  on session 3

Director Jim San Agustin of the ASEAN Economic Community, Office of the ASEAN Affairs of the DFA Philippines, wrapped up the event by highlighting the importance of track 2 discussions. Dr. Reyes reminded the experts of the next steps.

NEAT Philippines will host the NEAT Country Coordinators meeting on 01 September 2021 where the results of this WG meeting will be presented. Further, the result of this working group is policy recommendations to the APT leaders who will meet in November 2021. For more information, you may reach NEAT Philippines through Ms. Jean Clarisse Carlos (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

You may access the program by clicking HERE.