Gloria elected to the board of China-based Boao Forum

Former President and current Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been elected to the board of directors of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).

Arroyo on Wednesday expressed elation and excitement over the new role, noting she has been a long-time participant in the BFA.

"I'm happy to be here at this time because with a very good relations between the Philippines and China now and under the leadership of Pres. Xi Jinping and Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, I would like to add what I can to contribute to that very good relationship,” she said in a statement.

The regional economic forum serves as a platform for dialogue among government, business and industrial leaders dedicated to promote Asian countries to achieve further integration of regional economy.

A former economist, the ex-President said the BFA will play an "even bigger role in the world economic affairs with China poised to becoming the largest economy in the world."

“The global forum I think is going to be a very important forum even much more important that it is been in the last 18 years because of the importance of China now in the world economy and the whole world stage," she said.

"If we look at what China was when the Boao forum started in 2001, China was emerging. It was a new member of WTO. Today it is poised to become the largest economy in the world. So the leadership of China on the Boao forum makes the forum very, very important,” she added.

Modeled after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Arroyo said the BFA is aimed at hosting high-level meetings to discuss "pressing" economic issues.

When asked about the importance of the forum in light of "new protectionist trends," Arroyo said: “You're speaking about new protectionist trends, well I am in favor of globalization and open trade but we have to understand also that different countries in the world have different levels of economic, social and political history and therefore each country has to look at globalization in terms of its own history and its own well-being and that is something that we have to consider."

She added that "Asia or the East should move forward with issues that are less prickly given the closer and friendlier relationships of the member-countries" in spite of these trends.

Arroyo also asserted she was "keen" on what President Xi and China will do in the future.

“I am looking forward to whatever he has to say. He is a very important person in a very important country and we are all very eager and we look forward to the continuing leadership of China in the region’s economy and the world’s economy,” she said.

Tensions in the global economic market had risen between the US and China when US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on steel, aluminium, and over $50 billion of Chinese exports.

During his speech at the BFA on Tuesday, Xi promised to further open China's economy and lower import tariffs on products like cars, in a speech seen as an attempt to defuse the trade dispute with the US.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said China has also pledged to ramp up its economic assistance to the Philippines following Duterte's bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the BFA. —Margaret Claire Layug/JST, GMA News