As the Philippines gears up to host the 2026 Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC), Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion underscored the critical role that public-private partnerships play in ensuring food security, one of the legacies that he hoped the region could achieve.
Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion (left) talks with President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (center) at the sidelines of last week's ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Laos about the ASEAN Food Security Alliance (AFSA), a regional initiative for food security in the Philippines. Joining them (righ) is Christian Eyde Moeller, President of Lionheart Farms and a key private sector participant in the initiative. (Photo from Go Negosyo)
Concepcion was seen discussing with President Marcos the ASEAN Food Security Alliance (AFSA) on the sidelines of the recently concluded ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Laos last week.
He said that for AFSA to succeed, “there needs to be strong public-private determination and strategic partnerships, tangible actions, and targeted investments so as to overcome structural constraints, thus enhancing agricultural productivity and achieving economic growth in the ASEAN region.”
The Go Negosyo founder and ASEAN-BAC chair for the Philippines has been eyeing the AFSA as the “Philippines’s legacy project” leading up to the country’s ASEAN BAC chairmanship in 2026.
He is also working to attract targeted agriculture investments through the Alliance, wherein he said efforts will have impact at scale.
ASFA, which traces its roots to Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Angat Lahat Program (KALAP), aims to build partnerships with ASEAN member-states in increasing agricultural productivity and facilitating market linkages “to be a more productive, food-producing, and self-reliant region,” its website said.
The Alliance is related to a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Go Negosyo.
The MOA aims to form strategic partnerhips with the private sector in the hopes of providing agrarian reform beneficiaries with agribusiness opportunities, mentorship and sustainable farming models through cluster farming, corporative farming, and land lease agreements.
Lionheart Farms President Christian Eyde Moeller also joined Concepcion in his discussions with the President.