MAKATI: April 19, 2017– Various press outfits attended the press conference held at the Manila Polo Club for the highly anticipated Prosperity for All Summit on April 28, 2017. The summit which will be held in City of Dreams, Manila will be a gathering of the ASEAN region’s state leaders and business enablers all in the name of micro, small and medium enterprise development.

ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) Chair and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion officially welcomed the press and gave an opening message about the essence of Prosperity for All.

“Many of those who will attend the Prosperity for All summit are part of the ecosystem we are creating from both the public and private sector in order to achieve a program focused on getting our bigger corporations to support many of the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs. 99.6% of the entrepreneurs in our country are micro and small—many of whom are women entrepreneurs. The challenge is how we move them from mere survival to sustainable. We expect a lot of engaging discussions tackling this matter during the summit. Many of our large conglomerates will be present during the event and I hope that this will just be the start of what we call “the pool of enablers” who will create greater prosperity for all,” ASEAN-BAC Chair Concepcion said.

Executive Director Gil Gonzales then proceeded to give an overview of the ASEAN-BAC and the summit. “The ASEAN-BAC is fully supportive of the theme being put forward by the Philippine Chairmanship of Prosperity for All. [The ASEAN-BAC] does projects to support the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community) policy framework because with business—after recommendations—we want to see actions. Especially when it comes to the MSMEs, which is the very sector being given focus by the Philippine Chairmanship. For prosperity for all to happen, you must have inclusive growth, you must have that shared prosperity. That's why you have to take care of this 96-98% of the business sector across the ASEAN,” Gonzales imparted.

ASEAN-BAC Philippines Adviser Josephine Ramos followed Mr. Gonzales with a presentation of the summit’s program and flow. With keynote addresses given by top state officials from the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, and five sessions jam-packed with leading experts and business leaders in the region, the Prosperity for All Summit promises to be a dynamic gathering of minds and ideas.

ASEAN-BAC Chair Concepcion further stressed on the importance of the event to the region: “We are fortunate to have the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Thailand as confirmed speakers in our event. We've also invited the Prime Minster of Vietnam. Having these state leaders along with the roster of experts in our five sessions is a testament to the importance of creating prosperity for all in the ASEAN. We don't want to see that only a few of the 10 countries are prosperous. The whole idea of putting our 10 countries together is to help all of those who are not prosperous. This is what we would like to see as ASEAN progresses—the countries as ASEAN brothers helping each other hand-in-hand in order to succeed in creating prosperity for all the nations.”