MANILA, Philippines — For two days in Makati City, the Philippines’ economic hub, members of the Like-Minded Group of Middle Income Countries and other states from the region will meet for a conference that hopes to eventually get rid of “outdated metrics and models in development and financing assistance.”
Manila will host the High-Level Conference of Middle Income Countries from April 28 to 29.
“The Philippines and our 18 partners in the Like Minded Group for MICs, are bound by a common aim to shape a more enabling environment to help middle income countries to sustain our growth path,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said in a press briefing on Thursday, Aprill 24.
The two-day event takes place just as Manila is set to chair the Like-Minded Group of Middle-Income Countries at the United Nations, taking over from Morocco.
The Philippines is also expected to “graduate to upper-middle income country status” by 2026, according to Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, who heads the newly-created Department of Economy, Planning, and Development.
“At its heart, this common purpose is about shaping a more equal world and fairer international system,” said Manalo.
Penalties for growth?
Manila’s hosting of the conference is part of a bigger aspiration of the Philippines — and for other middle powers, either in terms of economic development or geopolitical weight — to take on a larger role in shaping its own future.
The Philippines’ foreign affairs chief told reporters that middle income countries should “assert more influence in the decision making in the United Nations,” particularly when it comes to development issues.
“United in our numbers, we enjoy considerable influence in shaping global discussions and redefining the 21st century development paradigm as we become more and more agents, rather than mere recipients, of new generation partnerships,” said Manalo.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had made the same call, but on regional security, in speeches before Australia’s parliament and the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore back in 2024.
The conference is expected to produce an outcome document, which would be called the Makati Declaration. Manalo declined to expound on what the text will contain, but singled out the need to get rid of “outdated metrics and models in development and financing assistance.”
“Our needs are a bit different from the least developed countries…. There are specific needs and objectives which middle income countries are pushing and I think this needs to have a higher profile,” he explained.
Manalo also highlighted the need to change what he saw as a “penalty” once a country graduates to a higher income status. “[There’s] the fact that middle income countries are also victims of their own success…. The higher you reach in development and income, you are penalized,” said Manalo.
For instance, the Philippines could lose certain Official Development Assistance privileges once it reaches upper-middle income status. Countries may also lose preferential status, such as the European Union’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences, once it graduates to a higher income status.
Over 200 senior officials, including foreign ministers and vice ministers, will be flying into Manila for the event. – Rappler.com
