17 April 2023 – The Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, led by Consul General J. Susana V. Paez, and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New York, under the supervision of Trade Commissioner Benedict M. Uy, accompanied a delegation from the Philippines to a meeting with World Business Chicago (WBC) on 17 April 2023 to explore ways of further deepening economic ties between the Philippines and the City of Chicago.
The 35-person delegation was led by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation Dr. Rafaelita M. Aldaba, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Tereso O. Panga, and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Director Emmylou Versoza-Delfin. Nearly 30 industry leaders and business executives, led by IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) CEO Jack Madrid and Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP) President Vincent Remo, joined the delegation.
The contingent was introduced to WBC Executive Vice President for Global Strategic Initiatives Adrienne Tongate. The delegates also listened to a presentation by WBC Foreign Direct Investment Director Karla Ruth Orozco, who discussed the role of WBC as a public-private non-profit organization promoting the city’s economic development, the incentives offered to locators, and its recent achievements. She also discussed the life science and healthcare innovation ecosystem of Chicago, which was a priority sector that attracted a more than five-fold growth in investments in 2022.
The delegation took the opportunity to explore a potential sister-city agreement, cooperation between economic development authorities, future business missions, and the possibility for Philippine enterprises setting up satellite offices in Chicago. END