 Mangang Hapunpo, Your Excellency, Benin Yorakino, President of the Philippines, Your Excellency Sosilo Bangyudo Yonong, President of Indonesia, Prime Minister Sung from Vietnam, and His Excellency Nian Thun, Vice President of Myanmar. Welcome, cordial welcome also to you, the members of the government, all the dignitaries here in the room, and particularly to our friends, the members and partners and constituents of the World Economic Forum. Mr. President, Akinon, one year ago you participated at our East Asia, the World Economic Forum on East Asia, and we were all impressed by what you told us about your reforms, the successes of your reforms. Now we are here to see firsthand what has been achieved and what will be achieved. And I'm sure we all will leave here this place deeply impressed. Such a great potential, 100 million young people, a growth rate, the fastest growth rate in East Asia of 7%. And let's not forget, this is achieved despite the biggest hurricane which ever hit lands last November. And it shows the resilience of your country, the resilience of your people, to take care of over 4 million displaced persons. I want to use this opportunity to thank you, to thank the government, to thank the people of the Philippines for the warm welcome and the great hospitality we are enjoying here. Let me just make the outset of this opening session for principle remarks. This is not a normal conference, it's a workshop. You are not here to participate and to listen, you are here to engage. And Mr. President, I can tell you, having participated in some of the sessions, we want to create a real contribution to your country and to the East Asian region, to ASEAN. In such areas like fighting corruption, like creating a sustainable agriculture, like fostering gender parity, like using all the potential in the three areas which you mentioned last year in Myanmar, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure. I should also felicitate you on the progress your country has made in terms of the many parameters, competitiveness, information, technology readiness and so on. So please engage, it's a great opportunity. The second remark concerns the composition of the audience here. I'm pleased to see that we are here not only leaders in government, political leaders, but all business leaders, but that we have a strong participation of civic society, of social entrepreneurs and of the young generation. It's the young generation which will build the future. And I'm also pleased to note that what we are doing here is observed not only by you here in the audience, but by a larger public because we want to integrate everybody by the televised sessions, but also by the use, the comprehensive use of social media. This is also not a political meeting. It's a meeting devoted to social progress, economic development. But of course we need political stability. We need peace in order to advance. And in this respect, I hope that the conflicts we see now can be solved in the best spirit for which World Economic Forum stands for, which means dialogue, cooperation and partnerships. And finally, a last word related to the theme of this meeting. We want to use economic growth to create a more just society. Economic growth is essential. Just imagine for one moment, if you grow by 7%, you double GDP every 10 years. So I'm happy to see that the Philippines in 25 will have doubled its GDP if it continues its present growth rate. And this growth is necessary to create jobs. It's also the base of social inclusion. Now growth alone is not enough. We have to create a just society. We have to foster social inclusion. And the best way to do so, and you mentioned it also, Mr. President, in Myanmar last year, is to invest into infrastructure. It is to invest into education. To empower people is the best way to create an inclusive society, a just society. To provide people with connectivity, physical connectivity, but also virtual connectivity. And finally, empowered people are aspiring for true democracy. And I would like to conclude by quoting the four pillars. The President of Indonesia, Yudhury Ho, has written so much about it in his vision. It is prosperity. It is peace. It is justice and it's democracy. I have now the great pleasure to introduce to you the President of the Philippines, His Excellency Beninio Aquino. His Excellency Cecilio Bambangiduyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia. His Excellency Nguyen Tan-Zung, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. His Excellency Nguyen Tan-Zung, Vice President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Of course, the man of the hour, as always, Professor Klaus Schwab, Speaker Sani Belmonte, Ministers, other WEF officials and delegates of the 23rd World Economic Forum on East Asia. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Several times a year, the World Economic Forum gathers leaders and specialists from all around the world, heads of state, academics, and entrepreneurs alike, in pursuit of a single broad-based vision, and I quote, to improve the state of the world, close quote. I cannot overstate our country's gratitude for the opportunity to host all of you here, and it gives me great pride to say, on behalf of my countrymen, indeed, welcome to the Philippines. Over the course of your visit, I am hopeful that you can make time in your busy schedules to visit our tourist attractions and historical landmarks, which makes us one of the most fun countries on Earth. Above that, however, I am also very eager for you to experience firsthand the passion, the patriotism, and the kindness of our country's greatest resource, the Filipino people. Throughout our history, the great turning points that have allowed us to achieve national redemption and progress have been made possible by the collective efforts of the Filipino people. At times, despite the worst efforts of our leaders, some of you may remember. Decades ago, our country was suffering from the cancer of tyranny and oppression that characterized martial rule. Before that period, the Philippines was always being compared to Japan, whether in terms of our economy or even in sports. However, during the martial law years, our faith became dependent on the will and the whims of a dictator who put himself ahead of all other considerations. Ultimately, it was the Filipino people who came together to unshackle our country from the chains of totalitarianism. We came together in a peaceful revolt in what would be known by history as the People Power Revolution, and eventually we overthrew the dictator. It was the Filipino people who then raised my mother to the seat of power and gave her the confidence in the political capital to finally plant the seeds of recovery and return of democracy to the Philippines after decades of corruption and neglect. In 2010, it was once again the collective efforts of our people that helped me get elected into office. After they took a stand and firmly decided to turn their back on almost a decade of corruption and impunity, a decade of lost opportunities. My countrymen flocked to the voting stations to vote for the simple but profound idea that was the backbone of our campaign. And that is where there is no corruption, there will be no poverty. To this day, the Filipino people provide the strength to sustain this effort. That is why when many of you have praised the achievements of the Philippines, we always point out that the pursuit of large-scale reforms in every aspect of governance is the achievement of the Filipino people. They made the goal of achieving inclusive growth doable, and it is also they who will make it irreversible. For the past four years, through the unwavering support of our people, we have enacted reform after reform. We overhauled systems that were prone to abuse. We reformed the way we do our budget, consulting as many stakeholders as possible, crafting the budget from the grassroots up, and implementing what we call the zero-based budgeting, which makes sure that all government spending will have corresponding and tangible benefits for our people. We have also empowered our people to take a more active role in governance by, for instance, putting up websites like Peranambayan and Budgetambayan, which translate to the people's money and the people's budget, respectively. Through these sites, our people can report airing officials to the Department of Finance and its attached agencies, and they can also directly see how the government is spending taxpayer money. We likewise reworked the formula for success in business, from one that required connections to influential people to one that gives value to hard work and innovation above all else. We pursued all those who committed wrongdoing, regardless of their power, wealth, or influence. As you may have guessed, tangling with these very wealthy individuals and sectors with vested interests was not an easy task. But those in our administration were not shaken. Dismantling the culture of corruption was a promise we made to the people. If we truly wanted to improve the lives of our people, we could not possibly shirk away from this challenge. We had to take on all those who had the misplaced sense of entitlement, who believed that they had more rights than their fellow Filipinos. So we went after every individual who committed wrongdoing and looked at the results. My predecessor is now undergoing hospital arrest, as she undergoes two serious charges, with another one being evaluated by the ombudsman. The Congress and the Senate remove a chief justice from office for failing to declare over 98 percent of his assets and is in his statement of assets and liabilities and net worth, contrary to our Constitution and our laws. Our efforts were not limited to those in the highest positions. We want to institute integrity throughout the bureaucracy. That is why through programs called Revenue Integrity Protection Services or RIPs, run after the smugglers or rats, and run after tax evaders or rape, we have filed a total of 487 cases against those who allegedly committed offenses as of April 15, 2014. These reforms, along with countless others, naturally expanded the resources available to government. The question was, what do we do with these resources we have freed up? To everyone in our administration, the answer was very obvious. We had to invest in our greatest assets, and that, once again, is our people. That is why we undertook the large-scale expansion of our conditional cash transfer program. In the span of four years, we have more than quadrupled its budget. The program that we inherited covered just 800,000 families or roughly around 4 percent of the population. Now we are assisting around 4.3 million families or about 22 percent of the population, and this constitutes the poorest of our poor. Through this initiative, we are incentivizing keeping children in school because that is the primary condition of the conditional cash transfer. Furthermore, just recently, we expanded the program in yet another aspect. Now it covers families with children up to 18 years of age. We believe this will magnify the impact of this program. Based on studies conducted by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, the income of high school graduates is around 40 percent higher than those who only finish elementary school. The conditional cash transfer program takes all the boxes. We give those in the margins the resources to meet their needs in the short term, while making sure that they remain healthy and that their children acquire the skills to become a productive part of the workforce. Of course, the principle behind the CCT dovetails with the strategic investments we have made in education to enhance the skill sets of the next generation. Since taking office, our administration has cleared the accumulated backlog in classrooms, books, and chairs, which means that our students can go to school with a minimum expectation that they will have everything they need to succeed. Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this achievement. In July of 2010, when we took office, we found that in order to accommodate all our students in our public schools, we needed to build 66,800 classrooms. The national budget conceivably could only afford to build around 8,000 classrooms per year. This meant that if we continued business as usual, we would be leaving my successors with a backlog of almost 20,000 classrooms. Clearly, this was unacceptable, and yet despite these unfavorable conditions, our education secretary, right Honorable Brother Armin Luistro, stepped up to the challenge. By the end of 2013, he delivered not just 66,800 classrooms, but 66,813. He likewise erased the 2.5 million backlog in chairs and tables, and the 61.7 million backlog in textbooks. Through a convergence of efforts, we have also replaced the 10-year basic education program with what we call the K-12 program, which will give our students more time to learn and understand lessons that would better prepare them to enter the workforce. This program also aligns our education system with international standards, which is necessary for us to seize the opportunities that will arise from regional and global economic integration. Our efforts in the field of health have also been massive. During our time in office, we have nearly tripled the budget of our Department of Health. This has allowed us to significantly increase the percentage of our population enrolled in field health, our national health insurance system, while also expanding the available services as well as the list of diseases that can be treated for free, especially for the bottom quintile. Nowadays, the poorest among our countrymen can simply walk inside any government hospital, show their field health card, and receive the treatment they need, free of charge. We are aware, however, that inclusive growth cannot be achieved simply by delivering to our people the services they rightfully deserve. Government must also actively find ways to create opportunities for the people. With this in mind, we have been hard at work to promote the Philippines as the most fun destination in the world, knowing full well that tourism is a sector that achieves inclusivity almost instantly, because even those without extensive training or education can take the jobs it generates. The results are clear. From 2001 to 2009, the term of my predecessor, the average annual growth of international tourist arrivals was at 5.1%. Under our watch from 2010 to 2013, this number grew to 11.6%. Considering that on average, every international tourist spends about $1,000 in the Philippines, the impact of our tourism efforts on our local economies has been nothing less than profound. Another specific example, armed forces are not usually seen as productive factors, productive factors in any economy. But in our case, we want inclusive growth to reach every sector of society, including even our personnel in the security sector. To this end, we have been transforming either land in certain military camps into plantations of bamboo, cow, and palm oil, among others, to create more livelihood opportunities for our soldiers and retirees. There is a simple idea behind all these initiatives. Our people are the be-all and end-all of this government, and we are not content with waiting for the benefits of growth to just trickle down the social pyramid. This is why, from the beginning of our term, most of our efforts have been targeting the poorest of the poor. This year, however, we have expanded the scope of our efforts and are now likewise targeting those who are deemed near-poor, or those who are one catastrophic illness or one natural disaster away from going below the poverty threshold. Our goal is to push them further and further away from the poverty line, and to empower them to improve their own lots in life. All these results were made possible not simply by a committed government, but also, and more importantly, by the Filipino people. It has been their participation, their trust, and their confidence that has rebounded into a government and a country that once again works for the people. The result of all our collective efforts in the Philippines is what you see now. One instilled with the newfound optimism, one that believes in government's capacity to help its people, and one that is widely considered to be among the world's emerging economies. We have always said that good governance is good economics, and the results of our reforms and the economic end are proving us right. In 2013, our economy grew by 7.2%, making us one of the fastest growing countries in Asia. This, we achieved despite the seemingly endless succession of natural and man-made disasters that hit our country late last year, which includes the Subwanga Siege incident in September, the Bohol earthquake in October, and the Typhoon Hyang in November. Additional proof of our economic progress is the renewed perceptions of the international community. In the past year, for instance, all three major credit rating agencies were unanimous. The Philippines is investment grade, finally. Moreover, just two weeks ago, Standard & Poor's gave us yet another upgrade from BBB minus to BBB. The World Economic Forum itself, and we thank you all, has drastically improved its outlook on the Philippines. From 2010 to 2013, we have moved up 26 places in your competitiveness rankings from 85th to 59th. Not to mention, from 2010 to 2014, we have made great strides in the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation's ease of doing business support and the Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom, improving by 36 spots and 20 spots in each one, respectively. And we are set to build on our momentum and become even more competitive. As our manufacturing sector continues its survival and as we continue to increase our infrastructure spending, more than doubling it from around 200 billion pesos in 2011 to more than 400 billion in 2014. It is evident. Our country is in the midst of a dramatic turnaround in every sector. And we are intent on continuing this trend and making certain that each and every Filipino enjoys the full dividends of progress. All signs for the future are pointing upwards. According to the United Nations Population Projections, in 2015, we will be hitting a demographic sweet spot that will last approximately for the next 35 years. Countries in such conditions post an average yearly growth of 7.3% over the next 10 years. We are incredibly poised to take full advantage of the situation. Having made strategic investments in education and skills training, which will equip our future workforce with the correct skills to fill the jobs that are and will be created. In fact, we have equipped our technical education and skills development authority with the resources necessary to help our people acquire the skills they need to be truly competitive in the job market. From 2010, we have increased our budget by a total of 77% and the results have shown. According to the data of the Department of Budget and Management, from 2006 to 2008, only 28.5% of tests that graduates were able to find employment. Compare this to the Tesla study of 2012, which showed that 62.4% of their graduates found employment. The improvement is even more stark when you look at specific industries. For instance, when it comes to the IT-BPO industry, Tesla graduates have an employment rate of 70.9%, while the electronics and semiconductor program has recorded an 85% employment rate. Note that these numbers are still improving. According to our test director general, Joel Villanueva, the most recent batch of trainees for the semiconductor industry has posted a 91% placement ratio. Our efficient allocation of resources has not just allowed us to offer better services and opportunities to our people. It has likewise empowered us to take an even more prominent role in the global community. We are very eager to work with all of you in the World Economic Forum and in the ASEAN community through the Grow Asia Initiative, which aims to ensure food security for our region and our world in the long term. In fact, we have just doubled down on food security with our appointment of a new presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernization in the person of Secretary Francis Pangilina, who I assume many of you will be working with soon enough. Apart from closely cooperating with our ASEAN neighbors in this regard, our countries also intend on taking advantage of the advances in technology to further improve our agricultural input. For instance, we are mapping the topography of our flood plains and river basins through the use of LiDAR technology, which among others will help us take a more science-based approach towards building resilient communities. Truly, harnessing the power of technology benefits us in multiple ways, as our entire planet is confronted by the reality of climate change. There is no country in the world that can afford having a government ill-equipped to handle the effects of increasingly powerful weather disturbances. Now it is vital that everything we do, from the planning of our infrastructure to the reconstruction of the homes for people, take into account the possible impacts of climate change. All our plans, whether they are local or national, are now being increasingly oriented towards a direction that includes resilience in the face of disaster. The most prominent example of this perhaps is how we are not simply rebuilding, but aiming to build back better in the communities that were ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan. We are constructing roads, energy infrastructure, and communities in a strategic manner, such that our people, our industries, and our economy as a whole are not put at risk whenever a typhoon makes landfall. This is a vital direction to take for any country that wants to ensure its long-term viability, or in other words, its survival. At the end of the day, however, we recognize that the power behind all our efforts, whether in pursuing inclusive economic growth, improving competitiveness, food security, or disaster risk management, comes not from any individual, but from our people. This is why inclusive growth is not just a mantra for us. It is the artistic by which we measure any government undertaking. After all, it is a participatory public, one that is empowered, and one that gives government their trust and confidence, and a government that never misplaces that trust, that ultimately makes equitable progress possible. It is truly a symbiotic relationship. As we empower our people to improve their lives in life, they empower us to battle the best interests that remain in society. Ultimately, it is our countrymen who give us the confidence to continue placing the path of reform. For the longest time, it has been the patriotism, the willpower, and the wisdom of the Filipino people that has rescued our country from its darkest moments. And now that they have public servants in government fully committed to harnessing their power for good, for the betterment of the nation, our country has the social and economic momentum to go from success to success and truly make waves throughout our archipelago in the international community and in the vast immeasurable ocean of history. I thank each and every one of you, and I bid you all a good day. Prime Minister, President Maraming Salamatpo, for giving us such an impressive account of where you stand and what your plans are. We are now turning to Indonesia. And I don't have to mention Indonesia, already one of the 20 largest economies in the world. I think fourth largest population in the world. And if the projections are right, you will be amongst the seven largest economies in 2050. So we are looking very much forward to your address, President Yudo Yono. And I will have the special honor and pleasure to introduce you particularly tomorrow in the capacity to transmit to you only for a third time in the history of the forum a Global Statesman Award. Mr. President, please. Glory to you. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. His Excellency, President Benigno Aquino III, His Excellency Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Tzu, His Excellency Vice President Nhan Thun, Professor Klaus Schwab, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. First and foremost, let me congratulate President Benigno Aquino III for hosting this event. The selections of the Philippines as the host of this year's World Economic Forum on East Asia is a solid word of confidence for this country's remarkable economic achievements. This is the last time I will have the honor to address this forum as President of Indonesia. In the future I will probably be sitting at the back of the room and I hope Professor Schwab will be kind enough to give me a good seat. So, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank Professor Schwab for your solid friendships over the years and for the WF's enormous contribution to peace and progress. The theme of this year's event, leveraging growth for equitable progress, is highly relevant for our region and for Indonesia's own development. We live in an extraordinary era. Asia is the myth in the midst of a revolution. This revolution is quite a different kind than the explosive 20th century revolution, but equally, if not more powerful. This revolution is powerful because it has lifted hundreds of millions from abject poverty. This has led to an explosion of the middle class. It has changed the face of many cities and countryside. It has sought productivity and creativity, creating and spreading wealth on a scale never before seen in history. And it has changed the way Asian look at themselves and, in turn, the way the world looks at Asia. Today, Asia serves as the engines of global economic growth. Yet, despite Asia's epic progress, this revolution remains incomplete. According to the Asian Development Bank, approximately two-thirds or about 800 million of the world's poor live in Asia. Some 1.7 billion people in Asia still lacking access to sanitation. Around 680 million are without access to electricity. But as an optimist, I do see the glass as half full. I believe our generations is now endowed with the resources and know-how to beat age-old problems of poverty, deprivation, and conflict. And within this region, as I have proposed to ASEAN, we can reach the goals of the ASEAN Development Agenda to double its GDP from $2.2 trillion US dollars to some $4.4 trillion US dollars by 2030. Why also halving poverty from 18.6 percent down to 9.3 percent? Thus, the goal of equitable progress is within our reach. In my view, at the heart of the inequity is the questions of social and economic mobility. I suppose we have to be realistic that there will always be people who are more well-off than others. But this become particularly problematic if mobility applies only for the few. The key challenge in addressing inequality is how to ensure that those at the bottom and middle also enjoy the same, if not more, socioeconomic mobility as those at the top, hence mobility for all. And in this way, it does not matter how many billionaires and millionaires emerge so long as those at the economic bottom also get a ladder to a better life of opportunity and progress. Is this achievable? I believe so. The best way to attain a society which ensures mobility for all is true education, the best anti-poverty weapon. One of the problems we face in Indonesia was that the percentage of the poor and universities was very small compared to the middle or upper class. This is why my government launched a new innovation in our education system. We calibrated tuition fees at universities so that different students pay different fees according to their economic circumstances. We also abolished university tuition fees for students from poor families. And on top of that, we gave them a modest living expenses. Another way to promote mobility is by financial inclusion. Since 2007, we have dispersed 150 trillion rupiah of microcredit for the poor, about $10 billion, many without need for collateral. Some 11 million Indonesian have received microcredit loans with very low rate of non-performing at 4%. I can test to you that a predominant portion of the millions who receive such microcredit have managed to raise their income, save little more for their future, and change their life for the better. Another powerful way to promote mobility for all is through entrepreneurship, especially among the micro, small, and medium enterprises. I particularly like the concepts of entrepreneurship because you really do not need a university degree to become one. One study found that only 14% of our entrepreneurs have university degrees. And 17% have only elementary degrees. And 4% have no formal education. This means anybody could be entrepreneurs. If Indonesia can build a pool of some 3 million entrepreneurs in the next decade, and each entrepreneur hires an average of 25 workers that will amount to some 75 million jobs, an enormous life changer for our citizens and for our national economy. All of this is part of what we Indonesia call a four-track strategy of pro-growth, pro-prower, pro-jobs, and pro-environment. The overall purpose is to attain sustainable growth with equity. By pursuing this strategy over the past 10 years, we have been able to stimulate growth, reduce inequality, and alleviate people from poverty. The implementation of this strategy has helped create jobs, generate more economic opportunities, and protect the environment. Last year, the economies named Indonesia and the Philippines as the economic stars of Asia. The World Bank recently placed Indonesia into the world's top 10 largest economies in terms of producing power parity, something that was unthinkable just a generation ago. Mackenzie projected that in 2030, there will be 135 million consuming class in Indonesia. And with that, Indonesia could over a very lucrative 1.8 trillion US dollar market opportunity. I invite all captains of industries in this room to be our partner, and in particular, in the development of our ambitious master plan for economic expansion and acceleration. Through the master plan, we are intensifying infrastructure constructions in economic corridors, and we have already dispersed more than 73 billion US dollars since 2011. Between 2015 to 2017, we aim to complete around 25 strategic projects, such as railroads, electricity, port, telecommunications, and highway with the total value of 26 billion US dollars. Here, I must add that economic growth and equitable progress are not necessarily the same thing. This is why pro-poor programs have always been at the heart of Indonesia's economic transformation, whether in the forms of free health care for the poor, special funding for schools, rice package for the poor, cash transfers, and others. Whatever the global ups and downs, I do believe that the intense pro-poor programs and social safety net that we have instilled in the last decade will have made the Indonesian economy much more resilient in the face of uncertainty. And that, inshallah, will lift us not just toward equality for all, not just toward equal opportunity for all, but toward mobility for all. Indonesia, for the past 10 years, have implemented various policies to ensure the realization of growth with equity. Nevertheless, we do realize that in moving forward, we have and will continue encountering challenges. But with strong determination, Indonesia has convinced that we can overcome those challenges and realize a development for all. I therefore encourage all of you, including the business communities, to continue partnering with us, with Indonesia. Through our partnership, I believe we will create a better future, an achievement that will be long remembered in our history book. As a final point, and although I will no longer be at the helm of my country in mid-October, I wish to assure you that Indonesia's future will remain replete with abundant opportunities. And I am confident that you would not want to miss this momentum. I thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. What achievement during the 10 years of your leadership of the country? We will come back to it tomorrow. Now I have the pleasure to introduce the prime minister of Vietnam. Your Excellency, President Benigno Aquino III, Professor Claude Suor, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Excellencies Leaders and Distinguished Delegates. It gives me great pleasure to attend this 23rd World Economic Forum on East Asia, organized in Manila. This event indicates the interest of the international business community in the Philippines to form efforts and fast growth in the recent years. On behalf of the Vietnamese people and government, may I take this opportunity to express my high appreciation and congratulations to the Philippines. I also would like to express my high appreciation of the active contributions made by the World Economic Forum and Professor Claude Suor to the promotion of the region's dynamic development. As this conference is convened, Asia Pacific remains a region of fast and dynamic economic development in the world. However, we also see signs of slowing down of economic growth in some emerging economies in the region. One of the reasons is the drive by the current growth model is ebbing away. And it is time for the region to create new drives for regaining fast and sustainable growth. We believe that this comes from globalization and more extensive international integration in parallel with reform of institutions of market economy towards higher quality and requirements, and also in parallel with social, equality, environment protection, faster and more sustainable achievements of the MDGs. At present, countries in the region are capitalizing on the vibrant trend of economic cooperation and integration at various levels for transforming into new engines for sustainable development. Vietnam, for its part, has been actively making contributions to the establishment of Asian Community by 2015, promoting negotiations on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, TPP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and FTAs with the EU, Republic of Korea, Customs Unions, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and many other FTAs. I believe that this provides good opportunities for companies to expand their business and investment in Vietnam, as well as in other Asia-Pacific countries. Ladies and gentlemen, growth and change is also generated by structural reform and reform of economic institutions. Most countries are giving priority to enhanced governance capacity, infrastructure development, education, training, health, science, technology, and agriculture. The World Economic Forum on East Asia this year's focus on leveraging growth for equitable progress is highly relevant. Vietnam's experience showed that domestic reform must be coupled with international integration, and it is an effective way to generate strong drive for fast and sustainable development. At present, we are continuing to complete institutions of market economy and transform growth model in order to build a highly competitive economy with social harmony, progress, and environment flanniness. Ladies and gentlemen, development is not possible without peace and stability. Vietnam always strives for peace and stability in Asia-Pacific, and is optimistic about the future prospects and cooperation development in the region. However, looking back at the overall picture of the region recently, I totally share with the professor Klaus Schwab's concern expressed at this, who have today, and W.E.F. Davos in 2014. That is, the risk of instability is rising. In fact, disputes over sovereignty and territory in the East China Sea and East Sea of the South China Sea have been involving with complexity and seriously threatening peace and security in the region. At present, over three-fourths of global goods are shipped via maritime transportation of which two-thirds travel via the East Sea. Any risk of conflict will disrupt these huge flows of goods and have unforeseeable impacts on regional and world economies. It may even reverse the trend of global economic recovery. I would like to draw your attention to the extremely serious situation going on in the East Sea since May 1, 2014. China has deployed more than 130 ships, including military vessels and planes, to guard the placement of its oil drilling rig at the location which is 80 nautical miles deep into the Vietnamese exclusive economic zone prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This gravely violates the international law and the declaration on the conducts of parties in the South China Sea, the DOC, to which China is also a signatory. The action by China has been directly threatening peace, stability, and maritime security and safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea. Vietnam always wants peace and friendship. We have exercised utmost restraint, showed every gesture of good-goal and exhausted all dialogue channels to communicate with Chinese authorities of different levels by expressing protest and demanding China to immediately withdraw its drilling rig and escorting vessels from the Vietnamese waters to ask China to observe the 1982 UN clause. However, after now China not only failed to respond to Vietnam's legitimate demand on the country, it has been slandering and blaming Vietnam while continuing to use force and escalate this increasingly dangerous and serious act of intimidation and violation. The entire Vietnamese nation have been protesting against China's strong doings. In various localities of the country, people have spontaneously launched demonstrations and some of the people have become restive and violated the law. The Vietnamese government has timely contained the act of law infringement and strictly punished law violators. As a result, the situation has become totally stable enterprises, business, and production have become back to normal. Ladies and gentlemen, we sincerely thank Asian countries and friends in the world for their sympathy and support to Vietnam's protection of national sovereignty and legitimate interests in conformity with the international law. The solidarity and cooperation of the international community which we hope to continue to receive, and this is essential for preventing acts of international law violation. We hope that you and the World Economic Forum will continue to make positive contribution to the building of an Asia-Pacific region of peace, stability, cooperation, and prosperous development. On behalf of the Vietnamese government, may we wish you all good health, happiness, and success. May the conference be crowned with success. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. I can only repeat what I said in my introductory remarks. The World Economic Forum is a neutral organization that we don't take stands, but I appeal on behalf of the World Economic Forum to all parties to revert to discussions and dialogue, to resolve the situation which has the potential to create a situation we all do not want to have if we look at our future economically and politically. We are living in a global world. We need global partnerships. We need global peace. Thank you. And I may now ask your Excellencies, the Vice President of Myanmar, to address us and Mr. Vice President. Do you remember we were last year, we hold our meeting in your capital, and I'm pleased to have you back here among us. His Excellency's President, Benigno Aquino-Tart, His Excellency President Cicero Bamban Jiduno, His Excellency Prime Minister Nguyen-Thanshwan, Professor Klaus Schwartz. Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed an honor for me to participate in this plenary session. The economic developments in many emerging countries may have various impacts on social and environmental areas. Some of these impacts are visible. However, some are not. The advanced impacts such as mass relocation of people due to the development of mega projects, point suits, environmental impact due to the waste coming out of factories, et cetera, could be highly visible. However, widening rural and urban gap increases in equity between health and health nodes, non-point source environmental impacts, having further unexpected environmental consequences, et cetera, could not be visible. Hence, after experiencing the undesirable consequences of these visible and non-visible impacts, that came along with the economic development, more and more emerging countries are convinced of the concept of sustainable development to achieve the balanced development in economic, social, and environmental spheres. Although they are convinced of the sustainable development concept, it is easier said than done for the effective implementation. With the rapid economic growth, environmental problems escalate and equities are being developed, having adverse impacts on social development and the important social capital is deeply debt to a great extent in many emerging countries. Being a late comer, Myanmar has a unique opportunity to learn the lessons learned by many other countries. The statistical analysis in some ASEAN countries revealed that the positive relationships between economic growth and economic coefficients and the poverty-hat-count ratios showing the evidence of increased economic growth followed by increased equity, which can be improved to a great extent through poverty reduction. Hence, a nation's effective poverty reduction strategy could play an important role in reducing the level of inequity while experiencing the economic growth. Since Myanmar started opening up in 2011, a great emphasis had been made on the comprehensive rural development and poverty reduction with the view not only to narrow the rural and urban gap, but also to narrow the gap of inequity by geographical areas, by classes of society, in different income strata, and by gender. Various measures are being taken for the development of heart and soft connectivity to narrow the gaps as a result. Myanmar had reduced the poverty rate from 32% to 26% in 2010, and it has been trying to reduce the poverty rate to 16% by 2015. However, challenges are everywhere. Since it has a long-term process, long-term and sustained political commitment is required. We are thankful to our civil societies inside and outside the country, development partners, the private sector and friends of Myanmar that have been working along with us hand-in-hand together despite all these challenges. Some countries in the region have reached a starting level of development. However, they will still be in the middle income trap. As long as we cannot address the gap of inequity. In order to overcome these challenges, in restoring their equity, various structural changes are required, and some changes may be politically costly. Therefore, it is difficult and delicate. However, Dr. Martin Luther King once said, if you cannot fly, then run. If you cannot run, then walk. If you cannot walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward. Hence, we are indeed moving forward in every step for the inclusive, equitable and sustainable development. It's a long way to go. However, we are moving forward. I am confident that this section will bring inspiration to understand the importance of promoting growth with sustainable development. I look forward to work closely with all interest stakeholders in shaping the future development of our country, Union of Myanmar. Thank you all. This brings us to the conclusion of this official opening session. But when the World Economic Forum published its global risk report, as it does every year, this year, the number one global risk which was identified by a network of over 1,000 experts was the lack of social inclusion. Not only in the developing world, but also in the developed world. But I think we are witnesses, a kind of tipping point where we have to change, and it was confirmed by all four of our distinguished speakers, we have to change the way how we run our economies. We have to remain, as it was said, very entrepreneurial on the one hand, but we have to create all those conditions to make sure that everybody is included into the progress, which means economic development without social progress is not sustainable. And social progress without economic development is not possible. I think that's, in one magic sentence, I think that's a challenge we have in front of us all. Not only in those four countries which are characterized by fast economic growth, but all over the world. And we all hope for a peaceful world. Now, speaking about entrepreneurship, it was also mentioned that medium-sized, larger medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurial enterprises, are very crucial to drive the economy. And in this respect, I would like to ask for a very short ceremony, my colleague David Eichmann to take the floor, that before doing so, before doing so, coming back to this question of optimism and pessimism, I think we all, after those four speeches, are very optimistic about the future of this region. And I would say, I would say, the question, and I take a metaphor which was used in the presentation, the question is not so much whether the glass is half full or half empty. I think what we have seen is the fact that the glass is growing and growing and growing fast. So even if it's half empty still, but still we have more water in the bottle and which means we have more economic progress which is ahead of us. I now ask first all of you to thank our panelists. Good afternoon. Today, the World Economic Forum is recognizing some of East Asia's most influential high-growth companies that are capitalizing on the growing ASEAN economies and looking towards the global horizon. These companies are innovators and market shapers, and the forum would like to award their potential for impact in the region and beyond. Ten of the selected global growth companies from the ASEAN region are in Manila today. They represent economic dynamism and highlight the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit that East Asia needs to continue on its path to greater prosperity, integration, and influence. I am thrilled to introduce the East Asian Global Growth Company Honorees, 2014. Please join me in welcoming and honoring on stage. Acclade a Bank, One Alpha Life, Mian Shipee Tractors, Capital Diamond Star Group, Manila Water Company, AA Corporation, Teji Da, VNG Corporation, Tianmin Group, and Minpu Seafood. We're going to take a picture with the heads of state, and then we'll bring this session to a close. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that brings our opening plenary to a close.