Dubbed as the premier business event of the year, the PBC is putting accent to the various opportunities for investments and growth in the fields of business process outsourcing, call centers, tourism, education, health and wellness, medical services and other sunrise industries in the country, said Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PBC) president Donald G. Dee.

The export of services in four modes defined by the World Trade Organization (WTO), is expected to overtake manufactured goods as the nation’s top money maker in succeeding years as more countries with shortages in professional and skilled labor expect to throw wide open their doors through multilateral and bilateral agreements.

The rapidly growing call center industry in the Philippines that hauled in close to US$500 million last year is seen to double to gross $1 billion this year.

Instead, the PBC will stress on providing a venue for foreign and local delegates to get into joint ventures, explore new opportunities for new projects, and for existing enterprises to exploit state-of-theart technologies and best practices in retooling and upgrading their operations in a trading world that gives to quarters to the weak, Dee explained.

Traditionally, the PBC peaked with the keynote address of the incumbent president, after which, PCCI leaders submitted a list of concerns that needed to be addressed by government.

A number of urgent reforms distilled from those discussed in area business conferences from north Luzon to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, will still be submitted to the President towards the end of the conference, the PCCI chief said.

This will focus mainly on the upgrading of the quality of governance that will be regularly monitored and rated by the chamber.