ILOILO CITY — British Ambassador Daniel Pruce on Thursday joined members of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (BCCP) in the opening of the two-day trade mission in Iloilo on Thursday.
In his keynote address before some 120 delegates composed of British investors and Ilonggo businesses, Price noted that the “extremely rich link” between Philippines and UK which includes the more than 200,000 Filipinos working in their county with “high level of professional expertise” and the increasing tourist arrivals to the Philippines.
He cited that around 20,000 British nationals have visited this country and “significantly growing”.
The trade and investment link between the United Kingdom and the Philippines “is strong and getting stronger”, he added.
He revealed that UK is the main European investor in the Philippines bringing in more than one billion pounds as of 2015.
The UK exports of goods and services to the Philippines in the same year were about 628 million pounds, an increase of 38 percent, the second highest worldwide.
Middle of this year, the first ever branch of the Jollibee fast food chain is expected to open in UK causing the rising excitement both for Filipinos and British.
Meantime, the trade mission is to look for investment opportunities in Iloilo. It is part of the GREAT Festival celebration of the British Embassy to highlight business opportunities in Visayas.
“We do this in line with the 10-point socioeconomic plan (of the Philippines),” said Chris Nelson, the chairman of the BCCP. It seeks to “foster and encourage development outside of Manila.”
The growth rate of Visayas is expected to reach 7.7 percent to 8.3 percent in the next five years. They have chosen Iloilo over other cities in the Visayas because “it is a very progressive city”.
“It is about time that we give focus and attention to companies to see the potentials of Iloilo,” he added. “This is event is already the beginning, it’s a start. And business is actually about building relationships and continuing it.”
Mike Moon, UK’s Department for International Trade director, said this is the biggest trade mission outside of Manila.
He recalled that UK Prime Minister’s Envoy for Trade Richard Graham in his visit last year committed to come back and bring “great companies”.
During that time, they saw opportunities on education, financial services, tourism and business process outsourcing.
Sriram Jambunathan, general manager of the Glaxo Smith Kline-Philippines, cited the multiplier effect of the economic development, which he saw while on his way to Iloilo City from the Iloilo International Airport.
He expressed that they have teams all across the region and they are committed to stay.
Engr. Diosdado Cadena, director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Iloilo, said that while it is just an exploration stage, among the industry of interests are agri-business/agri-processing of commodities and infrastructure.
But there was no business-to-business or firm-to-firm engagement, yet, he added. (Perla Lena/PNA)
