Future ready: ASEAN empowered
The Philippines took center stage as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) hosted the high-level ASEAN MSME Summit 2026 last 21 September at the Likhang Filipino Exhibition Hall in Pasay City. Convened by DTI chief and ASEAN Economic Ministers Chair Cristina A. Roque, the summit rallied 400 regional leaders, trade ministers, and business trailblazers under the banner of building a globally competitive, future-proof ecosystem.
Aligned with the ASEAN Economic Community Strategic Plan 2026-2030 and the Digital Economy Framework Agreement, the powerhouse convention tackled critical bottlenecks in digital market access, cross-border financing and technology integration for the region’s micro, small and medium enterprises.
ATOM Araullo; Nicole Young Chu, vice president, Global Food Solutions Inc.; Kelly Go, co-founder and managing director, Auro Chocolate; George Royeca, CEO, Angkas; and Jude Ong, vice president, general manager, Suyen Corporation.
CHAL Lontoc, Micah Ela Aman, chief financial officer, Miguelitos International Corporation; Jose Magsaysay Jr., co-founder, Potato Corner; and Christian Eyde Moeller, co-founder, CEO and president, Lionheart Farms.
DINDO Marzan, SVP and head of SME Business Group, Converge ICT; EJ dela Vega, director of Commercial Deliveries and New Business, Grab Philippines; Jerry Bongco, country director, Meta Philippines; and Ferdi Salvador.
EDGAR Doerig, Ambassador-Designate of Switzerland; Mariann Ruud Hagen; Kristian Netland, Ambassador of Norway; Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III, Chair, ASEAN Business Advisory; DTI Secretary Cristina A. Roque; Escipion Oliveira Gomez, director of Country Programmes, ITC; and Tetsuya Watanabe, president, ERIA.
SHOMBI Sharp, deputy executive secretary, United Nations ESCAP; Madelyn Almazora, Jonathan Tsuen Yip Wong and Marta Perez Cuso.
YASUSHI Masaki, deputy secretary general, OECD.
In a definitive move to translate regional policy into marketplace success, the Philippines unveiled five landmark ASEAN legacy projects designed to scale local merchants onto the global stage. These game-changing initiatives feature digital growth platforms like the ASEAN Center of Excellence for MSMEs (ACE–MSMEs), the upgraded AMEN 2.0 mentorship hub, and the SME Sustainability and ESG Accelerator Hubs launched alongside the Global Reporting Initiative.
Bolstered by comprehensive cross-border e-commerce and policy studies from the ITC and ERIA, this strategic blueprint — backed by the ACCMSME, ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN-BAC — solidifies a united, private-public front for Southeast Asia’s economic engine.