LEVERAGING WITH FOREIGN INVESTORS

LEVERAGING WITH FOREIGN INVESTORS My dear countrymen, the late Ambassador Nick Jimenez who was both my friend and mentor, taught me a lesson that I will never forget. He said that our country should no longer pursue what he called “a diplomacy of mendicancy”, a type of diplomacy that is always begging for aid from another country, obviously referring to the United States. Ambassador Jimenez and I served together at the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC, where I was a Press Attache. At that time, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo was also serving in Washington as a First Secretary and Consul. As a student of Political Science back in UP Diliman, I also learned about negotiating from a “position of strength”, a lesson that is not only useful in diplomacy, but also for serving in the bureaucracy. Although I am no longer in diplomacy and I have retired from the bureaucracy, I am still writing about topics that could be good for our country in general, and our economy in particular. Indonesia's population is estimated to be between 279.8 million and 286.3 million, according to various sources. The number of smartphone users in Indonesia is estimated at over 190 million in 2023, with expectations of continuous growth in the coming years. In comparison, as of 2024, the population of the Philippines is estimated to be between 113 million and 119 million, according to various sources. As of early 2024, the Philippines had approximately 117.4 million cellular mobile connections, Although Indonesia has about 167.3 million more people than the Philippines, they only have an edge of 72.6 million users over us when it comes to ownership of mobile phones. I brought up this subject, because of news reports that Indonesia has refused to allow Apple to enter the Indonesian market, not unless they agree to the condition that 40% of the Apple phone parts must be made in Indonesia. In this situation, Indonesia appears to be negotiating from a position of strength, because they have a market of 279.8 people that Apple wants. We could say that Apple is a big company, but Indonesia is also a big market, so both are negotiating from a position of strength. However, we could not say that Indonesia is practicing “diplomacy of mendicancy”, because they have something to offer in return. Can we not do this in the Philippines, not only in the manufacturing of mobile phones, but also for many other products? After all, we also have a big market of nearly 120 million people? Perhaps we can try to practice a “diplomacy of parity”, wherein we could negotiate with foreign countries from a position of “mutual strength”, meaning that we both have our mutual needs and therefore we could negotiate with each other on equal terms? When I was a new Foreign Service Officer (FSO) at the DFA, the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) taught me the difference between “comparative advantage” and “competitive advantage”. Perhaps our economic team should review are positions of strengths based on these two factors? But this time with the full realization that the size of our market is a huge leveraging factor by itself? Your friend, IKE SENERES/12-31-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com