Renowned as "Asia's Rising Tiger,' the Philippines gradually gained a positive reputation for achieving rapid economic growth. Remarkably, such achievements have remained steadily on course regardless of the changing circumstances. To illustrate, the Philippines' economy has remained competitive in recent years. The economy posted a respectable and steady 5.6% GDP (Gross Domestic Product). What role has the country's education system played in facilitating such impressive performance?

Analysts attribute much of this stellar achievement to the nation's sound economic and education structures. The Philippines has a relatively young, progressive, and educated population. Today, the country is touted as among the best targets for business process outsourcing (BPO). Of course, it cannot be overemphasized that human capital is crucial in a successful economic strategy. The situation in the Philippines wasn't different.

Unsurprisingly, the government has continually pushed for the population to have a more accessible and relevant educational program. Due to this, the state instituted strategic reforms, including the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education and the K to 12 program. These programs were aimed at boosting school enrolment levels, mean years of learning (both in elementary and secondary institutions), better graduation rates, and improved higher education.

In the Philippines, the government runs the education system using three primary organizations. These are the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), The TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the CHED (Commission on Higher Education. Significantly, the DECS stated in 1999 that it "aimed to provide access to quality basic education that would be equitably available to all." The DECS also aimed to provide "a foundation for lifelong service and learning that works for the common good."

The DECS' cherished the vision to "develop a competent, life-skilled, spirited and God-loving Filipino youth who contributed to the development of a healthy, humane and productive society." These values constituted the national education strategy. The government has organized the regular academic year into dry/hot and wet/cool seasons. Since March to May is the hottest period of the year, they constitute the summer break. In June, the wet season starts, marking the beginning of the official academic year. From 1993 the government increased the total school days from 185 to 200. The school year usually ends during the first months of March. Then follows a 4-5 day break at the beginning of November for the staunchly Catholic Filipino children to celebrate the "Day of the Dead" as well as "the Day of Saints." Later, the school breaks for a 3-4 week Christmas season.

The Philippines is a land of great contrasts and diversity- the country has more than 7,107 islands, 11 languages, and 87 dialects. Spain colonized the country for over 300 years; later, most people received an American education. Interestingly, the question of picking a single language of instruction for all schools has proved to be emotive and divisive. The country first used Tagalog, then switched to English and later to the local vernacular languages (including Arabic and various Chinese languages). Arabic is still used predominantly in the southern parts of the Philippines.

The US Library of Congress reports that at least 65% of the Filipino population understood English in the 1990s. Beginning from 1965-1966, the schools enrolled more than 5.8 million students. Some 5% of these enrolled in private schools. From1987-1988 the numbers grew to 9.6 million. By the end of 2000, some 12.6 million students learned in various schools- of these, 7.1% enrolled in private schools.

The Philippines education system assigns six years for primary education and four years each for secondary and University education. The typical school day starts with a flag-raising ceremony; this includes singing the national anthem and reciting the pledge of allegiance.

The private sector mostly runs the Philippine higher education sector. During the 1970s, the Metro Manila capital region had a 95% literacy rate. There are three main languages spoken in Manila: Ilocano and Tagalog in the Northern Luzon area and Cebuano (in the Visayas). The Filipino language (which derives from Pilipino) generally originated from various languages used in the country for centuries.

Overall, English is the most valued language in the Philippines. It is used in the national media, private and public primary and secondary schools, higher learning, business, and government administration. Only a few people speak Spanish. Overall, the Philippines' literacy rate (which stands at 94.6%) remains the highest in the entire Pacific and East Asia region.

Students of history know that Japan was devastated by the effects of World War II. After the war, Japan sorely needed to raise its economy to sustainable levels. The government of Japan and the various private sector players did not waste time- plans were made, and soon Japan launched its vehicle manufacturing industry. Today Japan is internationally recognized as a world-leading automotive industry manufacturer and exporter. Indeed, Japan is renowned for its exciting ideas and cutting-edge technology. In time, Japan successfully catered to the global and domestic motor vehicles market.

Japan has achieved this by developing peculiar characteristics, including a shift to green energy technology and a standardized response to the globalized supply chains. Some of the best-selling Japanese cars include the flagship Toyota, Nissan, Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, and Kei vehicles. Yes, one can confidently say the Japanese automotive sector is a world-driving brand. Japan's automotive sector is now the third-largest automotive industry in the world.

The country has 78 car manufacturing factories spread around 22 prefectures. The sector employs more than 5.5 million people; this is, therefore, a primary pillar of the national economy. Japan's automotive manufacturing sector actually constitutes 89% of the national manufacturing segment. The country's auto suppliers sector has also grown to form an essential part of the nation's economy. The sector has spread to incorporate the rubber and chemical industries, among others.

Keen analysts note that Japan is a technologically driven and highly innovative country. The country has promoted increased production of both hybrid and electric vehicles. These are then introduced into the domestic and global markets to fuel the supply and demand factors internationally. Some of Japan's popular, domestically-produced brands include Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Honda; these have dominated the automotive market for decades.

Compared to Japanese cars, foreign-manufactured brands are generally considered as no more than a status symbol. Comparatively, the imported cars' maintenance cost is incredibly high. Interestingly, most Japanese cars owners live in rural areas; the urban dwellers mostly rely on the public transport service. Those who seek an affordable alternative to regular cars usually turn to motorcycles and Kei cars. These are useful since they satisfy the demand for convenience while operating in tiny spaces. The Japanese automotive industry is, however, increasingly becoming environmentally friendly. Thus, most consumers now seem to shun motorcycles in favour of e-bikes and bicycles.

Toyota's Dominance

Toyota started from a humble beginning. The world-renowned brand originally started in the Koromo mill town as a textile manufacturer. The brand grew steadily and gradually evolved into one of the world's largest automakers. Toyota has pushed many boundaries over the years and pioneered high-quality designs for practical and recreational use. The company is also credited with making electric and hybrid cars to Japan's automotive sector forefront. The Toyota Prius model is now recognized as Japan's best-selling car.

Toyota has steadily maintained its place as Japan's top-selling, world-famous brand. Over the years, Toyota has sold more cars than the combined sales of its leading competitors, Nissan and Honda. In 2019 Toyota sold more than 1.5 million cars in Japan. The global vehicle sales were 10.7 million. This represents a significant increase in sales.

Toyota plans to release a unique two-seater electric car soon. This model is mainly targeted at older drivers. Ultimately the sale of Toyota's electric vehicles is projected to reach 5.5 million by 2025. A recent announcement even indicated Toyota would partner with JR East and Hitachi to develop special railway vehicles that would come conveniently fitted with hybrid systems. The company also announced it would design a prototype "future city." This is a hydrogen fuel cell fully- connected ecosystem located at the base of Mount Fuji.

Clearly, the Japanese automotive market is peculiar. The above data shows that the sector is shifting progressively towards developing renewable and green technologies- these are then incorporated into vehicles. The electric vehicles demand is also getting stronger; this is the case more than ever before. Analysts expect that more of these products will be released onto the market soon. Further, this development is expected to significantly spur the growth of the automotive sector. There's no doubt that Japan will continue leading this space- and drive the world economy for decades ahead. Pundits point to the recent UK-Japan trade deals as a factor that's destined to benefit Japan's automotive sector for years.

In the first half of 2021, Citi has raised over US$25bn for Asia Pacific clients from global and local capital markets to support their sustainable financing needs. This is an increase of over 400% versus the same period for the bank in 2020 and the most for the bank for a half-year on record.

Highlight transactions in the first half include Alibaba Group's US$5bn four-part offering in February, which included a 20-year sustainability tranche — its debut sustainable capital markets transaction. From the hardware sector, SK hynix issued a US$2.5bn bond in January with a 10-year green tranche. Citi likewise led a US$3bn sukuk for the Republic of Indonesia in June, which included a 30-year green tranche — the longest-ever green offering in Islamic format.

"As a global, value-driven firm, we are dedicated to supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. We view sustainable financing both as a mandate and as an opportunity to partner with our clients across geographies — to help them decarbonize their operations and achieve their enterprise sustainability goals," said Peter Babej, Citi Asia Pacific CEO.

Issuers in many cases can now raise cheaper financing via the issuance of green bonds.

Favorable pricing — or a 'greenium' — is evident among issuers of sustainable bonds as issuers monetize higher oversubscription levels for these transactions especially in busy or difficult markets.

This is a function of the demand increase.

10 years ago, the ESG investing market was led by niche investors with assets under management not exceeding US$5bn according to market estimates. A decade on, ESG investing is mainstream — moving from niche to necessary — supporting the ascent of global ESG AUM to between US$30-45 trillion currently.

The capital raised for Asian clients is part of Citi's overall global financing targets. In 2019, the bank met its $100 billion Environmental Finance goal four years early. In April 2021, the bank announced a US$500 billion environmental finance goal, as part of the US$1 trillion sustainable finance goal, all by 2030.

As the partnership with clients evolves, the dialogue though is widening further away from just financing. "The scope of our sustainable financing efforts is growing continuously, and covers all client segments – from investors repositioning their portfolios toward greener industries, to corporates realigning their business models through acquisitions and divestitures. Our institutional commitment to building a greener future cuts across all these activities," added Babej.

In many cases, Citi co-develops solutions together with buy side clients to ensure that we address their key requirements. These have included creating ESG World Indices – Citi's first proprietary indices to offer a benchmark for the best-in-class ESG performers as we help our buy side clients transition their portfolios towards ESG. We are also seeing increasing demand from our wealth clients for green investments.

For our own operations, Citi is targeting net zero emissions by 2030, which builds on Citi's environmental footprint goals and a 100% renewable electricity goal that the bank achieved in 2020.

Since 2001, Citi has worked to measure, manage, and reduce the direct environmental impacts of its operations by tracking energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, waste, and green building initiatives. Citi remains committed to reducing the environmental footprint of our 7,000 facilities in close to 100 markets. Much of this focus is on ensuring our property portfolio is greener with clear and responsible targets.

A recent example is in Hong Kong, where we installed 360 solar panels at our main office in Hong Kong in March 2021. The rooftop Installation also includes a wind turbine, which generates electricity on-site for local use.

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) launched AppsUP 2021, its global annual app innovation contest today. This year's Asia Pacific (APAC) edition will see contestants across the region pit their skills and talents to win from a prize pool of US$200,000. Interested applicants can register their entry from 10 June to 20 August.

Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) launches AppsUP 2021 app innovation contest with total of US$200,000 cash prizes for Asia Pacific winners. From 10 June to 20 August, developers within the region can register for the contest via the official website (http://bit.ly/appsupapacpr). The submitted apps must be integrated with at least one HMS Core Kit to be eligible.

The contest, which aims to inspire and support developers in adopting and integrating HMS Core Kits to create innovative apps, will be run separately across five regions, including APAC, Europe, Latin America, Mainland China and Middle East and Africa.

This year's APAC edition will feature ten award categories – the Best App, Best Game, Best Social Impact Award, Honorable App Award and Most Popular App Award; as well as new categories including AppGallery Rising Star Award, Best Fintech Innovation Award, Best HMS Core Innovation Award, Excellent Student Award and Tech Women's Award. Twenty outstanding apps will be selected based on their social value, business value, user experience and innovativeness.

Shane Shan, Director of APAC Huawei Consumer Cloud Service said, "In Huawei, we believe in building a fully inclusive digital society, where technology is for everyone. Through our accessible platforms, development tools and technical resources, we hope to empower all levels of developers so that they can showcase their capabilities to the world. Hence, in AppsUP 2021, we have two times the number of award categories, with new awards specially created to recognise student developers, female developers, and budding developers who are new to HMS mobile ecosystem."

All Round Developer Support

In addition to the cash awards, AppsUP 2021 offers the opportunity to an accelerated path to the third largest mobile ecosystem, providing a stepping stone for developers to enter the global market. By joining the contest and onboarding their apps to AppGallery, it is a launchpad for them to access over 730 million Huawei global smartphone users, and also increase exposure to potential partners and investors.

Participating developers in APAC can look forward to an expanded array of technical support, including workshops with hands-on coaching from Huawei's top engineers and guest judges. Finalists can also enjoy global media promotion and co-marketing opportunities with Huawei.

Eligibility and Application

AppsUP 2021 welcomes all mobile app developers and app owners, whether students, professionals, startups, or businesses, to participate.

Developers must be based in the APAC region and their submitted apps must be integrated with at least one HMS Core Kit to be eligible. Participants may enter the contest individually or as a team of up to three members.