Mayor Joy Belmonte welcomed  200 investors, business leaders, business associations, chambers of commerce and foreign dignitaries who participated in Quezon City’s Investors Summit on Frida.

“We made a conscious and deliberate effort to win back the trust of people in the government, so that they could see the government as an enabler, rather than a hindrance. With trust, relationships can be built with relationships, cooperation, and progress,”!Belmonte said.

“Today, I stand before you asking you to trust us, to choose us, to work with us. Together, we can make your business grow and thrive, and by doing so, we can lift our people at the margins from the quagmire of poverty,” she added.

Also present during the event were officials of sister cities and non-government organizations, together with dignitaries and representatives from countries including New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Ireland, France, Denmark, Israel, United States, Germany, Great Britain and Manila Economic and Cultural Office.

During the event, the city engaged with businesses in discussions on key areas for investments, public-private partnerships, and opportunities for expansion and growth leaning on the city’s five major thrusts namely social services for all, economic development, environmental sustainability conservation, high-caliber infrastructure, and good governance.

Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual served as the keynote speaker of the Investment Summit.

“Being future ready means being sustainable, inclusive, and resilient. It means getting ahead in climate change adaptation and mitigation, poverty elimination, and disaster risk reduction and management. And we know that Quezon City has been doing all these things already so they are indeed future ready. With this summit, Quezon City is poised to take on future challenges,” Pascual said.

The QC government touted that applying for business permits and licenses were made easier through the development of QCBizEasy under the city’s QC E-Services platform.

The local government has already automated and digitized 95% of the city’s services.

“Our commitment to you is that we will continue to cut red tape. We will continue to reduce, and with your help, hopefully eliminate corruption. We will continue to improve our systems and processes. And we will make sound, data driven decisions and policies, for the benefit of businesses and our citizens. We certainly won’t ask you what’s in it for us officials. But we will ask what’s in it for the city and for QCitizens,” City Administrator Mike Alimurung said.

Breakout sessions were also initiated after the program, with the five major thrusts of the city government as topics for discussion.