Excellencies and distinguished delegates,

Good evening from the Philippines.

We would like to thank the co-chairs, Ambassador Mohammad Koba of Indonesia and Ambassador Andrejs Pildegovičs of Latvia for this opportunity to share our national experiences.

The Philippines recognizes the need to invest in R&D, S&T facilities, and human resources to boost the Philippines’ competitiveness. Some initiatives of the Department of Science and Technology that contribute      in the achievement of SDGs 8, 9, 10, and 11 are the following:    

The Advanced Manufacturing Center or “AMCen” is the country’s leading research center and hub in innovative 3D printing technologies, processes, and materials with a network of universities and private companies to push for advanced manufacturing in small, medium and large enterprises in the country.

The Advanced Mechatronics, Robotics and Industrial Automation Laboratory or AMERIAL supports the technological advancement, workforce improvement, and competitiveness of the metals and engineering (M&E) industries by increasing the manufacturing industry’s productivity.

We are also working with the private sector, universities and other government agencies to deliberately introduce 4IR technologies to transition workers from large companies to small and medium companies that can supply           to larger companies, thereby improving the upstream portion of the value chain and eventually increasing our productivity and competitiveness.

The Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) assists MSMEs to adopt technological innovations to improve their products and processes, while      SETUP 4.0 incorporates 4IR technologies to help the MSMEs adapt to the trends of digital transformation and automation.

Ladies and gentlemen, we believe that frontier technologies should complement human activities and provide humans more time for higher value-added endeavors. We also encourage the United Nations to ensure that rapid technological changes will benefit everyone, especially developing and least developed countries by catalyzing innovation in all sectors of the society.

Let us synergize our efforts for sustainable development through STI.

Thank you. 

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