Camaraderie among leaders

When I look back at the ASEAN Business Advisory Council’s 106th Council Meeting and Second Retreat last May 10 and 11 in Boracay, I will remember how quickly we became more than delegates with shared agendas and how we started to become an ASEAN team in the truest sense.

Yes, we held our council meetings, but the meetings were only part of the work. What made this truly special was what came alongside it: the bonding moments, the evenings where we got to know one another well, where laughter replaced distance and where relationships turned into real trust. Even if some of the delegates were out of tune during the obligatory videoke sessions (this is the Philippines, after all), the point wasn’t perfection but togetherness. The fact that we could share an imperfect moment and still keep showing up for each other says a lot about the kind of leadership we need more of.

I believe that building camaraderie should not be a side activity; instead, it should become part of how leaders build the relationships that make cooperation possible, especially among different groups who must work toward one direction.

This being the second time since 2017 that I chaired the ASEAN-BAC, I feel the weight of what has come before. Not just the resounding success of our previous chairship of ASEAN-BAC (that, incidentally, was a tall order, considering it coincided with the 50th anniversary of ASEAN itself), which resulted in the impactful implementation of our legacy project, the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network. Following the success of our most recent council meeting, I also feel something else: the confidence that we are building our plans through people we trust.

It’s easy to talk about being inclusive. It’s harder to do it when you’re dealing with different perspectives, different priorities and different institutional cultures. That is why I believe the real work happens when we get to know each other not just as roles, but as individuals.

That’s also why I think friendly, human relationship-building – yes, even something as simple as a round of golf played in good spirit – can matter. Not because leisure is important by itself, but because the atmosphere changes. People speak more openly. They listen differently. They collaborate without defensiveness. And when the time comes to align policies, solve problems or respond to pressure, we have a foundation of trust to lean on. In a region as diverse as ours, the building of trust between governments and business contributes to the infrastructure of unity.

That being said, I must mention the beautiful ceremonial tee-off at the Fairways and Bluewater by the ASEAN-BAC team during our Council Meeting, including Laos’ Oudet Souvannavong, Singapore’s Robert Yap, Indonesia’s Bernardino Vega and our very own Michael Tan and George Barcelon. This being the first of the ASEAN-BAC Golf Series, I look forward to September and November for the next leg, and to the years ahead, when this has become a tradition initiated by the ASEAN-BAC Philippines chairship.

What I want us to take forward from Boracay, however, is the idea of an “ASEAN team” – not just a group of countries coordinating on paper, but a community of leaders and supporters who choose to work together. If we want an inclusive ASEAN, we must keep expanding this circle – bringing in more voices, more perspectives and more partners, and making sure no one feels like an afterthought.

That’s why one of our plans for ASEAN-BAC’s big event in this coming November’s ASEAN Business and Investment Summit is to put up LED screens in the malls so more people can become aware of the meetings that will, at some point, affect their lives. This will be alongside Go Negosyo’s Trabaho@Negosyo in the malls. These are public-facing initiatives that represent visibility for the themes we stand for. ASEAN should feel real and relevant to the people it comprises.

Relationship-building is how we keep ASEAN inclusive in practice. The work set before us now is no joke. We are in the midst of a geopolitical storm that is bringing energy shocks, which will eventually translate to disruptions in our food supplies.

During our meeting, we synthesized and whittled down to five the priority actions which we believe, as the ASEAN private sector, will help our regional resilience and guide our region through these global shifts: (1) creating green lanes of food, feed, fertilizer and packaging, while avoiding sudden export restrictions; (2) making sure food systems have enough energy so food processing, cold storage and logistics can continue during disruptions; (3) supporting SMEs and farmers through easier access to financing so they can continue operations and protect jobs; (4) improving regulatory flexibility by speeding up approvals for low-risk alternatives without sacrificing safety and (5) creating a permanent public-private mechanism to monitor disruptions and coordinate faster regional responses.

Two of these five priorities are exclusively food-related. This is because food is inseparable and is reflective of supply chain resilience. It is the one metric that is immediately felt by every citizen in ASEAN.

While we prioritize mitigating the effects of the war, we should not lose sight of the importance of preparing for growth. We must continue to pursue digital transformation, intensify MSME development, advance women’s economic empowerment and strengthen the region’s creative economy to help ASEAN stay future-ready. At the same time, stronger cooperation between governments and businesses is needed to improve coordination and delivery. ASEAN-BAC itself will create dedicated working groups on supply chains, sustainability and digital transformation. It will continue to strengthen partnerships with Joint Business Councils to encourage more cross-border trade and investment and look to the wisdom of our past leaders in the ASEAN-BAC to inform the way forward.

Source: Go Negosyo - www.philstar.com