The Hinrich Foundation, in partnership with Asia Society Philippines and with the support of the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines, hosted a briefing event for the inaugural Sustainable Trade Index (STI) on Thursday, August 25th in Manila.At the luncheon, researchers revealed the overall results of the groundbreaking index, which was created by the Economist Intelligence Unit to rank the sustainability of economies in Asia across three pillars of sustainability:

• Economic growth
• Social equity
• Environmental protection

Speakers specifically highlighted the performance of the Philippines and considered the country’s prospects moving forward. The event brought together a room filled with roughly 100 interested parties across government, academia and the private sector to discuss the most important issues facing sustainable development in the Philippines today.

The lineup of speakers at the event included:

• Guillermo “Bill” Luz, Co-Chair, National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines
• Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Vice-Chair, Asia Society Philippines
• Merle A. Hinrich, Chairman, Hinrich Foundation
• Chris Clague, Senior Analyst, Economist Intelligence Unit
• Stephen Olson, Research Fellow, Hinrich Foundation

Click here to download the full Hinrich Foundation Sustainable Trade Index report plus infographics, workbook and more.

About the author – Lauren Kyger

Lauren Kyger is a Research Associate with the Hinrich Foundation where she focuses on international trade research. She is a Hinrich Foundation Global Trade Leader Scholar alumna, earning her Master’s degree in Global Business Journalism from Tsinghua University in Beijing. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.