The United Arab Emirates will help in the Philippines’ digitalization efforts and share its best practices in governance to boost the country’s business environment, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

The secretary attended the official launch of the Government Experience Exchange forum between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates co-organized by the UAE Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and the DBM at the Ayala Museum in Makati City.

Also with her was UAE Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Competitiveness and Experience Exchange Abdulla Nasser Lootah and Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who delivered the keynote message.

“They'll be providing a lot of technical assistance to the Philippines on digitalization, on making government processes more efficient, more faster, among others,” she said during an interview.

While she cannot give more details about the three possible events that will be the outcome of the exchange, the Budget chief assured that the Philippines will learn about UAE’s governance practices.

“More on technical assistance in terms of digitalization efforts, yung mga governance practices nila. You know sa kanila yung cost of doing business halos wala (their governance practices. You know their cost of doing business is almost zero),” Pangandaman said.

“Yung mga permits (They almost don’t have permits) and all of that, halos wala, ambilis (it’s so fast). So yung mga bagay siguro (Those are the things) I think we can learn from them. Then yung mga (the) ranking of surveys on competitiveness. Yung mga ganyan, laging sila number one (Those things, they’re always number one) so may be we can learn from them,” she added.

The launch was the result of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the official signed in February this year.

Pangandaman explained that the MOU she signed on behalf of the government is about sharing UAE’s best practices. She also expressed hope that the UAE might also learn from the Philippines.

In his speech, Lootah described the event as a continuation of the “amazing partnership” between the two countries.

“I am here today on behalf of the UAE government with a clear message from the UAE leadership and the UAE people, the leadership and the people of the Philippines,” he said. “The United Arab Emirates is here to support the Philippines in its big dreams to make things happen and to serve the people of the Philippines in the best way possible.”

He added that how the event aimed to discussing the future of the two countries, their competitiveness, artificial intelligence and the “future foresight,” and excellence, quality, and accountability across all government operations.

“And finally, we are going to be discussing how we can work together to ensure quality of life across all sectors by providing services that are second to none, services that are digital, real-time, with the minimum procedures required from the citizens and the private sector in the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates,” he furthered.

Pangandaman expressed her eagerness to learn about UAE’s digitalization efforts, especially in the budgeting and procurement reform.

“I know that the collaboration between the government, the UAE, and the Philippines will continue, not just this year but beyond. We're looking forward to the future collaborations between the government of UAE and, of course, the national government of the country,” she said.