- Published on Thursday, 29 November 2012 21:15
- Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
The Philippines is
attracting more interest from foreign businessmen as shown by the
doubling of the number of inbound business delegations from different
countries this year, Trade Undersecretary Cristino L. Panlilio said on
Wednesday.
Last year, according to Panlilio, the country played host to only about 12 foreign business delegations.
This year, he said about 25 inbound business missions has been welcomed by the Philippines.
“There is a
100-percent increase or doubling of inbound missions. These missions
consist of at least five companies, coming together and led by a
confederation or association like Confindustria, Italy’s biggest
association of manufacturing and services companies,” Panlilio added.
He said this shows that the Philippines is keeping its spot in the world’s radar as the business destination of choice in Asia.
“As we end the year
soon, the next few weeks, I am sure [will see] two to three missions.
That is how busy the country is showing what it can offer to the world,”
Panlilio added.
The latest business
mission was organized by Italy’s Confederation of Italian Industries
(Confindustria) in cooperation with the Italian Embassy and the
Philippine Embassy in Italy.
Panlilio said this was
the first mission in the 65 years of economic relations between the
Philippines and Italy, and the first foreign trade mission to meet with
the League of Cities of the Philippines, as well as the first foreign
trade mission besides China to meet and deal with the Federation of
Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Our Italian friends
have made the first step for us to be able to strengthen the association
and to firm it up with actual investments in the Philippines and
bilateral trade to start the long road of this journey. I hope that
everything will just end up as successful business undertaking of both
the Italian and the Philippine sides,” he added.
Paolo Zegna,
Confindustria president for international Affairs, said the mission has
allowed them to discover the potential of the Philippines. “We were
expecting a lot and we have seen the potential of much more than these
areas can offer to our industry,” he added.
“This is just the
first step. Having been reminded that we are the 25th mission in this
country means that we have a lot of competition but this is giving us
even more strength and desire to conquer and acquire a beautiful ranking
in your priorities,” Zegna said.
In 2011, Italy ranked
24th as the Philippines’s trading partner, with total trade amounting to
over $587 million or 0.54 percent of Philippine total trade with the
world at $108.8 billion in 2011, according to the Bureau of Export Trade
Promotion. From 2007 to 2011,
total trade with Italy grew at 8.28 percent. Philippine exports to Italy
grew by 9.42 percent and imports from the country rose by 6.57 percent
during the same period.
“We have discovered
that Philippines can be one of the priorities for Confindustria in Asian
countries. We will devote more time to follow up, which in our opinion
is the most important thing, not just with the companies that are
here. We want to bring more companies. We want them to be an example
and tell the association that there is potential here,” Zegna said.
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