THE Philippines-France Joint Economic Committee (JEC) has been revived by the two countries after a 12-year hiatus, signaling their intention to improve trade and investment engagement, especially in the aerospace and aeronautics sector.
Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo and French Minister of State for Foreign Trade Mathias Fekl met in France last week to reconvene the Philippines-France JEC, which last convened in 2003.
Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., who made an earlier trip to the European country, said the revival of the JEC is in line with the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) pursuit of attracting more investments in aerospace and aeronautics.
“The aerospace and aeronautics sector is an area that both the Philippines and France are eager to pursue. This is a growing sector with huge potential for the Philippines to become an aerospace hub in the field of aircraft maintenance and production. We welcome the commitment to deepen existing cooperation between the civil-aviation agencies of the Philippines and France and the companies in the aerospace sector,” Cristobal said.
Aside from aerospace and aeronautics, the JEC is also aimed at broadening cooperation in the areas of creative industries, tourism and sustainable development.
In an earlier forum, Domingo confirmed the talks between the DTI and Airbus. He said Airbus plans to increase its purchase of parts from Philippine-based suppliers.
Parts suppliers based in the Philippines, such as Jamco Inc. and Moog Controls Inc., already supply aircraft components to the likes of Boeing and Airbus.
The Philippines’s domestic aerospace industry has an estimated 0.15-percent share in the 2013 GDP. It is projected to increase to 0.57 percent by 2022.
It contributes 2,200 in direct employment and generates an estimated $10 million in salaries of direct and allied workers. The next JEC meeting is slated to take place in Manila next year.
Preparatory seminars and conferences will be conducted to increase cooperation between the Philippines and France. The main goal is to improve their linkages in the global supply chain for aerospace.
Other collaborative actions are in the areas of ecotourism, creative industries and climate change, among other areas.
In 2014 France was the Philippines’s 13th top trading partner, with total bilateral trade valued at $2.57 billion, accounting for 2 percent of the Philippines’s total external trade.
Exports to France rose to $331.63 million in 2014, credited to the increased demand for transistors, spectacle lenses of other materials, digital and other digital monolithic integrated circuits.