The Wisdom of Balancing Political Strategy, Economic Policy, and Public Diplomacy with Good Old-Fashioned People to People Relations
In this premiere interview, Ambassador of the Philippines to the United States, His Excellency Jose L. Cuisia shares with Ambassador Stuart W. Holliday his keys to success in business, politics, and diplomacy; as well as his insights on how the Philippines is able to maintain its position as the fastest growing economy in South East Asia (based on GDP growth rates); thrive after a devastating natural disaster; and provide one of the world’s most talented and versatile workforces. Speaking from Meridian International Center’s campus, just two miles from the White House, Ambassador Cuisia describes how he successfully navigates the complexities of Washington while pursuing his country’s trade, economic, and security agenda, and recommends core skills that leaders must develop for success on the global stage.
***
[Ambassador Stuart Holliday:] Let me begin by asking you a little bit about your career. I see that you attended Wharton Business School here in the United States, but you are here as a diplomat. How did this come about?
[Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia:] I actually spent most of my career in the business sector except for seven and half years that I spent as a public servant right after the People Power Revolution when the dictator was driven out of government by the people. Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency, and I was invited to join her government as the Head of the Social Security System, which was one of the five government controlled corporations. After four years as Head of the Social Security System, the President asked me to assume the Governorship of the Central Bank of the Philippines, so I spent another two years under her leadership. After President Ramos took over in 1992, he asked me to stay on for another year and a half as Governor of the Central Bank. Then I rejoined the private sector as head of AIG’s life insurance subsidiary in the Philippines, which is the largest life insurance company in the country. After I retired in 2009, I was invited by the current Foreign Affairs Secretary, who was also an Ambassador to the U.S. for about five years during the term of President Ramos. I had no intention of becoming a diplomat but he convinced me to take this post in Washington because of my business background. He said, “I would like to promote economic diplomacy, and I believe that your background, as well as your network in the U.S., would be very helpful for the senior diplomatic position you will assume.”
[SH:] I would imagine that serving as Ambassador of the Philippines in Washington is probably one of the most important diplomatic assignments for the Philippines.
[JC:] Yes, it is the most important diplomatic assignment for the Philippines, because of our bilateral relations with the U.S. and the economic relationship that we have had with the U.S. for the last maybe six, seven decades, since we assumed our independence. The U.S. continues to be one of our major trading partners—the second largest actually—and we have a very important strategic security alliance with the U.S.
[SH:] Obviously the United States and the Philippines share a lot of history. Does that play in a positive way to cement the connection between the American people and government with the Filipino people? Or is there still a legacy of, perhaps, trying to move out of America’s shadow?
[JC:] No. I think the relationship has been such that we acknowledge that we are a developing country looking to a partnership with a super power, the U.S. We have benefited from the tremendous assistance that has been provided by the U.S. in terms of military and security, as well as the economic assistance that we have received from the U.S.; and, of course, the very robust people-to-people relationships in both the U.S. and the Philippines. As you know, we have roughly about 3.5 million Filipino-American citizens who have contributed to American society, including many leading medical professionals in the U.S. who have made significant contributions to the American society. In the Philippines, we have over 300,000 Americans who are very much welcomed and appreciated by the Filipino people. We have differences, but as partners we understand that we cannot always agree on everything. Most importantly, we are able to manage these occasional differences, and at times, we essentially agree to disagree.
[SH:] President Obama will be making his first trip to the Philippines in April and there are probably many issues on the agenda, but what do you think will be the top three things that you hope the President’s visit can advance?
[JC:] The visit will reaffirm the strong bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines, and I believe that the focus will be our military and security alliance. We are currently negotiating what we call an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) which will be on the agenda for the President’s visit. The underlying agreement to the EDCA is the Visiting Forces Agreement that currently exists and was signed in 1999.
[SH:] Was that part of the Base Closure Transfer Agreement?
[JC:] When the bases were closed from 1992 to 1999, we forged a Visiting Forces Agreement, which has at the basis the Mutual Defense Treaty Agreement signed in 1951. So we are expanding this new agreement which will allow the U.S. forces access to certain military bases that are, of course, controlled by the armed forces of the Philippines. The U.S. is not looking for any bases but it is looking to have access, and this access can be very useful in times of, let’s say, natural disasters. For example, after Typhoon Haiyan, pre-deployed U.S. Marines on the ground came from Okinawa within 48 hours with some supplies and were there as the first responders to the Typhoon Haiyan disaster.
[SH:] So defense would be a principle agenda item?
[JC:] Yes, that is a major item. We are hoping that by the time President Obama comes, that agreement would have been concluded and hopefully signed—so that is the first one. Of course, there is also an economic aspect.
[SH:] The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for example?
[JC:] Yes, TPP. We are hoping to get assistance from the U.S. in terms of the negotiations that we will have to undergo. Even at this point, preliminary consultations are ongoing between the U.S. Defense Representative (USDR) and other U.S. agencies and our own departments of trade and industries. So, in summary, the focus of President Obama’s visit will be our military, security, economic, and people-to-people programs, including science and technology. We are trying to expand the science and technology agreement that was signed last year, and we are looking at other possible educational exchanges, as well. So, the agenda for President Obama’s visit is quite robust.
[SH:] Will you stay in the Philippines when the President arrives?
[JC:] Yes, I will be there when he arrives. To receive him and then, of course, to see him off.
[SH:] Have you had a chance to work with Vice President Biden at all?
[JC:] Well, we really focus on the State Department, Defense Department, and also the Department of Commerce. We are hoping that Secretary Pritzker will visit the Philippines sometime in the middle of this year.
[SH:] What sectors of the American industry is most involved in the Philippines?
[JC:] Well, the American companies in the Philippines have been very successful. Procter and Gamble has been there for 77-78 years. IBM maybe close to a hundred years. CitiBank close to a hundred years. But more recently, maybe in the last five years, Philippines has become number one in the world in the business processing and outsourcing industries because of the call center operations. In fact, many U.S. corporations have call centers in the Philippines, particularly the banks and the credit card companies, like American Express. So that sector has seen quite a number of American companies, but of course, we are trying to attract more companies into manufacturing. We recognize that is a challenge because the U.S. government is encouraging American companies to do more manufacturing in America versus abroad. We are seeing, however, companies from Japan, South Korea, Australia, and others coming to the Philippines because we provide very attractive advantages—not just the tax holidays, but also we have a highly educated labor force that speaks English and provides services for very reasonable costs. Our workforce is highly trainable and they have demonstrated that they can meet the highest international standards.
So, we are trying to attract more American companies particularly in the infrastructure sector because we have a tremendous need for new airports and seaports. The economy has been growing very rapidly the last two years. We had a GDP growth rate of 6.8 percent in 2012, and in 2013 we had a 7.2 percent GDP growth rate, which is the highest in Southeast Asia and second only to China’s 7.7 percent in 2013. The IMF and the World Bank are projecting continued rapid growth in the Filipino economy. Because of that, we need more energy—and that is why we are happy that Alpha Integrated Solutions (AIS), one of the largest U.S. power companies, has expanded their operations to the Philippines. We still need more power companies to come to the country because the demand is going to increase quite substantially over the next few years.
[SH:] What can you attribute to this massive growth rate?
[JC:] Well, good governance is one key factor because, in the past, corruption was a major hindrance to our growth. With good governance and programs adopted by President Aquino, the Philippines saw a big turn-around. It has inspired confidence in the country and in the leadership. Strong economic fundamentals would be another factor for this big growth. The third would be that the government itself has been increasing its investments into infrastructure. For a long time, the Philippines was not investing sufficiently in infrastructure and that has been one of our biggest challenges. From 1 percent of GDP, the President plans to increase it to 5 percent of GDP, which is what was suggested by the World Bank and the IMF. We are probably at 3.2 percent now, and we hope that, by the end of this year, we will be at 4 percent, and by 2016, we will be at 5 percent. So from about 200 billion pesos, we will be seeing our budget infrastructure rising to 800 billion by 2016. And this is why I said there are tremendous opportunities for American companies to look at infrastructure, energy, water, airports, seaports, and so on.
[SH:] Ambassador, as a representative in Washington, DC, you have to deal with many stakeholders of the executive branch, legislative branch, civil society, the NGO sector. How do you manage your time in this job?
[JC:] Well, first I would say you have to be flexible, because sometimes I have to see four or five legislators within a day and many times they change. You have to be flexible enough to adapt. If they say “well, unfortunately, we have a vote, so can you please come an hour or two hours later?”, I am required to be quite flexible and adjust my schedule and other commitments. But, I think I am fortunate to have very good people at the Embassy on whom I can rely. I cannot meet everyone who requests a meeting, so sometimes I will delegate this responsibility to the Deputy Chief of Mission or to some of our Ministers who would be able to tackle the issue. Of course, for the more important issues, I attend myself, such as meetings with the State Department, the Pentagon, and Congress. I have to be the one to attend those meetings.
[SH:] How much have you traveled around the United States in your current capacity?
[JC:] As I said before, we have a large Filipino-American community in the U.S. with the largest concentration residing in California (1.4 million Filipinos). Our second largest Filipino diaspora (340, 000) resides in Hawaii. I have been to 28 states so far, and I hope to visit even more in the next year or two. So it’s a challenge, but having been in the private sector, I have learned that time management is very critical.
[SH:] Do you find that Americans outside the beltway have a different view of issues?
[JC:] Oh yes, definitely. I guess it depends on which state you go to. You can see very different perspectives—whether it is Washington, New York, LA, San Francisco, the mid-west—very different.
[SH:] About exports from the Philippines to the U.S.—what are the sectors that are the most robust?
[JC:] First, let me say that we have a fairly balanced trade with the U.S., and while we enjoy a slightly favorable balance of trade surplus, the deficit that the U.S. has is not as huge as it is with other countries in Asia. The Philippines exports a lot of electronics and electronic parts, as well as agricultural products to the U.S. We are the third largest exporter of sugar to the U.S., and also export coconut and coconut products, such as coconut water. Our two-way trade increased from $13 billion in 2009 to $20 billion. As I said, we have a slightly favorable balance of trade surplus. We import a lot of wheat from the U.S., as well as electronic parts. We are also trying to expand the market for our agricultural products, so we started exporting bananas, and we hope to be able to export even more because the first shipment of bananas was very well received in the California area. Although we are starting in California, we hope to export to the East Coast as well.
[SH:] The World Economic Forum is holding its Asia regional meeting in Manila in May. The Asian Development Bank is headquartered in Manila. Do you think that Manila can become a hub of activity that connects the United States with Asia as well as a place to locate these important convening activities?
[JC:] Yes. In fact, I have been saying that U.S. firms can use the Philippines as a platform to access other Asian countries. As you know, the Asian Economic Community will be integrated hopefully by the end of 2015—that’s the target. That will then allow U.S. firms that are operating in South East Asia to export anywhere within the Asian region on a duty free basis. Several manufacturers are already enjoying the benefits of this regional duty free arrangement. For example, many auto firms based in Thailand have been exporting cars, manufactured in Thailand, to the Philippines on a duty free basis. This integrated Asian Economic Community will provide the opportunity for the free flow of not only goods, but also labor and other critical resources for development.
[SH:] In addition to our cultural exchanges here at Meridian, we have the Global Leadership Institute that seeks to prepare leaders in the public and private sectors to operate effectively. You have been in business and in the realm of government, and so you have operated with a global view. AIG was a global firm. What are some of the skills that you think are needed for a leader to be successful today?
[JC:] Well, first let me commend Meridian International Center for the great work that you have been doing in terms of diplomacy, as well as developing business leaders. In terms of leadership, I guess one skill that is very important that I mentioned earlier is time management. But it is also important for someone who is in diplomacy to be a good listener. As a diplomat, I learn a lot from my own colleagues from Asia, as well as all my colleagues from the international community. So, learning is very important. But one of the advantages that I have is my comprehensive understanding of the business sector, because diplomats, both in the U.S. and the Philippines, are now being asked to promote economic policies. Secretary Clinton called all U.S. Ambassadors to come back to Washington to have a seminar on understanding how business operates because she was encouraging them to promote diplomatic and economic principles. Secretary Kerry is doing the same thing. Our own Foreign Affairs Secretary did the same thing. They had all our ambassadors come back to Manila to a seminar at the Asian Institute. So business acumen has become very important in today’s environment.
Interviewed conducted in March 2014 by Ambassador Stuart Holliday, President and CEO of Meridian International Center.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's May/June 2014 print edition. Subscribe here.
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Interview: Jose L. Cuisia, Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines to the United States
May 21, 2014
The Wisdom of Balancing Political Strategy, Economic Policy, and Public Diplomacy with Good Old-Fashioned People to People Relations
In this premiere interview, Ambassador of the Philippines to the United States, His Excellency Jose L. Cuisia shares with Ambassador Stuart W. Holliday his keys to success in business, politics, and diplomacy; as well as his insights on how the Philippines is able to maintain its position as the fastest growing economy in South East Asia (based on GDP growth rates); thrive after a devastating natural disaster; and provide one of the world’s most talented and versatile workforces. Speaking from Meridian International Center’s campus, just two miles from the White House, Ambassador Cuisia describes how he successfully navigates the complexities of Washington while pursuing his country’s trade, economic, and security agenda, and recommends core skills that leaders must develop for success on the global stage.
***
[Ambassador Stuart Holliday:] Let me begin by asking you a little bit about your career. I see that you attended Wharton Business School here in the United States, but you are here as a diplomat. How did this come about?
[Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia:] I actually spent most of my career in the business sector except for seven and half years that I spent as a public servant right after the People Power Revolution when the dictator was driven out of government by the people. Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency, and I was invited to join her government as the Head of the Social Security System, which was one of the five government controlled corporations. After four years as Head of the Social Security System, the President asked me to assume the Governorship of the Central Bank of the Philippines, so I spent another two years under her leadership. After President Ramos took over in 1992, he asked me to stay on for another year and a half as Governor of the Central Bank. Then I rejoined the private sector as head of AIG’s life insurance subsidiary in the Philippines, which is the largest life insurance company in the country. After I retired in 2009, I was invited by the current Foreign Affairs Secretary, who was also an Ambassador to the U.S. for about five years during the term of President Ramos. I had no intention of becoming a diplomat but he convinced me to take this post in Washington because of my business background. He said, “I would like to promote economic diplomacy, and I believe that your background, as well as your network in the U.S., would be very helpful for the senior diplomatic position you will assume.”
[SH:] I would imagine that serving as Ambassador of the Philippines in Washington is probably one of the most important diplomatic assignments for the Philippines.
[JC:] Yes, it is the most important diplomatic assignment for the Philippines, because of our bilateral relations with the U.S. and the economic relationship that we have had with the U.S. for the last maybe six, seven decades, since we assumed our independence. The U.S. continues to be one of our major trading partners—the second largest actually—and we have a very important strategic security alliance with the U.S.
[SH:] Obviously the United States and the Philippines share a lot of history. Does that play in a positive way to cement the connection between the American people and government with the Filipino people? Or is there still a legacy of, perhaps, trying to move out of America’s shadow?
[JC:] No. I think the relationship has been such that we acknowledge that we are a developing country looking to a partnership with a super power, the U.S. We have benefited from the tremendous assistance that has been provided by the U.S. in terms of military and security, as well as the economic assistance that we have received from the U.S.; and, of course, the very robust people-to-people relationships in both the U.S. and the Philippines. As you know, we have roughly about 3.5 million Filipino-American citizens who have contributed to American society, including many leading medical professionals in the U.S. who have made significant contributions to the American society. In the Philippines, we have over 300,000 Americans who are very much welcomed and appreciated by the Filipino people. We have differences, but as partners we understand that we cannot always agree on everything. Most importantly, we are able to manage these occasional differences, and at times, we essentially agree to disagree.
[SH:] President Obama will be making his first trip to the Philippines in April and there are probably many issues on the agenda, but what do you think will be the top three things that you hope the President’s visit can advance?
[JC:] The visit will reaffirm the strong bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines, and I believe that the focus will be our military and security alliance. We are currently negotiating what we call an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) which will be on the agenda for the President’s visit. The underlying agreement to the EDCA is the Visiting Forces Agreement that currently exists and was signed in 1999.
[SH:] Was that part of the Base Closure Transfer Agreement?
[JC:] When the bases were closed from 1992 to 1999, we forged a Visiting Forces Agreement, which has at the basis the Mutual Defense Treaty Agreement signed in 1951. So we are expanding this new agreement which will allow the U.S. forces access to certain military bases that are, of course, controlled by the armed forces of the Philippines. The U.S. is not looking for any bases but it is looking to have access, and this access can be very useful in times of, let’s say, natural disasters. For example, after Typhoon Haiyan, pre-deployed U.S. Marines on the ground came from Okinawa within 48 hours with some supplies and were there as the first responders to the Typhoon Haiyan disaster.
[SH:] So defense would be a principle agenda item?
[JC:] Yes, that is a major item. We are hoping that by the time President Obama comes, that agreement would have been concluded and hopefully signed—so that is the first one. Of course, there is also an economic aspect.
[SH:] The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for example?
[JC:] Yes, TPP. We are hoping to get assistance from the U.S. in terms of the negotiations that we will have to undergo. Even at this point, preliminary consultations are ongoing between the U.S. Defense Representative (USDR) and other U.S. agencies and our own departments of trade and industries. So, in summary, the focus of President Obama’s visit will be our military, security, economic, and people-to-people programs, including science and technology. We are trying to expand the science and technology agreement that was signed last year, and we are looking at other possible educational exchanges, as well. So, the agenda for President Obama’s visit is quite robust.
[SH:] Will you stay in the Philippines when the President arrives?
[JC:] Yes, I will be there when he arrives. To receive him and then, of course, to see him off.
[SH:] Have you had a chance to work with Vice President Biden at all?
[JC:] Well, we really focus on the State Department, Defense Department, and also the Department of Commerce. We are hoping that Secretary Pritzker will visit the Philippines sometime in the middle of this year.
[SH:] What sectors of the American industry is most involved in the Philippines?
[JC:] Well, the American companies in the Philippines have been very successful. Procter and Gamble has been there for 77-78 years. IBM maybe close to a hundred years. CitiBank close to a hundred years. But more recently, maybe in the last five years, Philippines has become number one in the world in the business processing and outsourcing industries because of the call center operations. In fact, many U.S. corporations have call centers in the Philippines, particularly the banks and the credit card companies, like American Express. So that sector has seen quite a number of American companies, but of course, we are trying to attract more companies into manufacturing. We recognize that is a challenge because the U.S. government is encouraging American companies to do more manufacturing in America versus abroad. We are seeing, however, companies from Japan, South Korea, Australia, and others coming to the Philippines because we provide very attractive advantages—not just the tax holidays, but also we have a highly educated labor force that speaks English and provides services for very reasonable costs. Our workforce is highly trainable and they have demonstrated that they can meet the highest international standards.
So, we are trying to attract more American companies particularly in the infrastructure sector because we have a tremendous need for new airports and seaports. The economy has been growing very rapidly the last two years. We had a GDP growth rate of 6.8 percent in 2012, and in 2013 we had a 7.2 percent GDP growth rate, which is the highest in Southeast Asia and second only to China’s 7.7 percent in 2013. The IMF and the World Bank are projecting continued rapid growth in the Filipino economy. Because of that, we need more energy—and that is why we are happy that Alpha Integrated Solutions (AIS), one of the largest U.S. power companies, has expanded their operations to the Philippines. We still need more power companies to come to the country because the demand is going to increase quite substantially over the next few years.
[SH:] What can you attribute to this massive growth rate?
[JC:] Well, good governance is one key factor because, in the past, corruption was a major hindrance to our growth. With good governance and programs adopted by President Aquino, the Philippines saw a big turn-around. It has inspired confidence in the country and in the leadership. Strong economic fundamentals would be another factor for this big growth. The third would be that the government itself has been increasing its investments into infrastructure. For a long time, the Philippines was not investing sufficiently in infrastructure and that has been one of our biggest challenges. From 1 percent of GDP, the President plans to increase it to 5 percent of GDP, which is what was suggested by the World Bank and the IMF. We are probably at 3.2 percent now, and we hope that, by the end of this year, we will be at 4 percent, and by 2016, we will be at 5 percent. So from about 200 billion pesos, we will be seeing our budget infrastructure rising to 800 billion by 2016. And this is why I said there are tremendous opportunities for American companies to look at infrastructure, energy, water, airports, seaports, and so on.
[SH:] Ambassador, as a representative in Washington, DC, you have to deal with many stakeholders of the executive branch, legislative branch, civil society, the NGO sector. How do you manage your time in this job?
[JC:] Well, first I would say you have to be flexible, because sometimes I have to see four or five legislators within a day and many times they change. You have to be flexible enough to adapt. If they say “well, unfortunately, we have a vote, so can you please come an hour or two hours later?”, I am required to be quite flexible and adjust my schedule and other commitments. But, I think I am fortunate to have very good people at the Embassy on whom I can rely. I cannot meet everyone who requests a meeting, so sometimes I will delegate this responsibility to the Deputy Chief of Mission or to some of our Ministers who would be able to tackle the issue. Of course, for the more important issues, I attend myself, such as meetings with the State Department, the Pentagon, and Congress. I have to be the one to attend those meetings.
[SH:] How much have you traveled around the United States in your current capacity?
[JC:] As I said before, we have a large Filipino-American community in the U.S. with the largest concentration residing in California (1.4 million Filipinos). Our second largest Filipino diaspora (340, 000) resides in Hawaii. I have been to 28 states so far, and I hope to visit even more in the next year or two. So it’s a challenge, but having been in the private sector, I have learned that time management is very critical.
[SH:] Do you find that Americans outside the beltway have a different view of issues?
[JC:] Oh yes, definitely. I guess it depends on which state you go to. You can see very different perspectives—whether it is Washington, New York, LA, San Francisco, the mid-west—very different.
[SH:] About exports from the Philippines to the U.S.—what are the sectors that are the most robust?
[JC:] First, let me say that we have a fairly balanced trade with the U.S., and while we enjoy a slightly favorable balance of trade surplus, the deficit that the U.S. has is not as huge as it is with other countries in Asia. The Philippines exports a lot of electronics and electronic parts, as well as agricultural products to the U.S. We are the third largest exporter of sugar to the U.S., and also export coconut and coconut products, such as coconut water. Our two-way trade increased from $13 billion in 2009 to $20 billion. As I said, we have a slightly favorable balance of trade surplus. We import a lot of wheat from the U.S., as well as electronic parts. We are also trying to expand the market for our agricultural products, so we started exporting bananas, and we hope to be able to export even more because the first shipment of bananas was very well received in the California area. Although we are starting in California, we hope to export to the East Coast as well.
[SH:] The World Economic Forum is holding its Asia regional meeting in Manila in May. The Asian Development Bank is headquartered in Manila. Do you think that Manila can become a hub of activity that connects the United States with Asia as well as a place to locate these important convening activities?
[JC:] Yes. In fact, I have been saying that U.S. firms can use the Philippines as a platform to access other Asian countries. As you know, the Asian Economic Community will be integrated hopefully by the end of 2015—that’s the target. That will then allow U.S. firms that are operating in South East Asia to export anywhere within the Asian region on a duty free basis. Several manufacturers are already enjoying the benefits of this regional duty free arrangement. For example, many auto firms based in Thailand have been exporting cars, manufactured in Thailand, to the Philippines on a duty free basis. This integrated Asian Economic Community will provide the opportunity for the free flow of not only goods, but also labor and other critical resources for development.
[SH:] In addition to our cultural exchanges here at Meridian, we have the Global Leadership Institute that seeks to prepare leaders in the public and private sectors to operate effectively. You have been in business and in the realm of government, and so you have operated with a global view. AIG was a global firm. What are some of the skills that you think are needed for a leader to be successful today?
[JC:] Well, first let me commend Meridian International Center for the great work that you have been doing in terms of diplomacy, as well as developing business leaders. In terms of leadership, I guess one skill that is very important that I mentioned earlier is time management. But it is also important for someone who is in diplomacy to be a good listener. As a diplomat, I learn a lot from my own colleagues from Asia, as well as all my colleagues from the international community. So, learning is very important. But one of the advantages that I have is my comprehensive understanding of the business sector, because diplomats, both in the U.S. and the Philippines, are now being asked to promote economic policies. Secretary Clinton called all U.S. Ambassadors to come back to Washington to have a seminar on understanding how business operates because she was encouraging them to promote diplomatic and economic principles. Secretary Kerry is doing the same thing. Our own Foreign Affairs Secretary did the same thing. They had all our ambassadors come back to Manila to a seminar at the Asian Institute. So business acumen has become very important in today’s environment.
Interviewed conducted in March 2014 by Ambassador Stuart Holliday, President and CEO of Meridian International Center.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's May/June 2014 print edition. Subscribe here.
