DURING the recent trip of President Duterte to Vietnam, he encouraged the Vietnamese businessmen to invest more in the Philippines, and to also import more of our products. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, who was part of the President’s delegation, said many of our products have great potential in the Vietnamese market.
It can be noted that the country’s exports continued to slide in July this year, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). So the move by Mr. Duterte in his bilateral talks with Vietnam State President Tran Dai Quang could help boost Philippine trade.
Because it is very important that the government is able to gain the confidence of new economic partners, Lopez assured the Vietnamese corporations that they will be protected and the Philippine government will provide a positive investment climate for the businessmen.
The Philippines, on the other hand, has more investors in Vietnam. Companies like Universal Robina Corp., San Miguel Corp., Ayala Group, Jollibee, Splash and others have found their markets in Vietnam. Aside from this, our country also imports around 48 percent of our rice requirements from Vietnam.
Still, according to the Neda, the country’s revenue from trade fell from $12.2 billion last year to $11.4 billion in July this year. This drop is being attributed to the 13-percent decline in exports and 1.7-percent decline in imports. The former is due to the decreased demand for Philippine products from traditional markets like Japan, China, Hong Kong and the United States. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia had said the country then needs to expand its presence in nontraditional markets to reduce dependency on traditional markets.
In a similar development, Mexican businesses are also looking at infusing some $2 billion worth of investments to the Philippines. According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the bulk of the Mexican investments may be placed in the local telecommunications sector. These investments will further strengthen the bilateral commercial ties between the two countries, according to the DTI.
Take note that Mexico has always been a strong economic partner of the Philippines, and has, in fact, invested more here compared with other Asean countries. The Philippines, for its part, has, promised to streamline the processes of doing business in the country.
In 2015 Mexico was the country’s 28th-largest trading partner, out of 223; 19th-biggest export market, out of 211; and 40th import source, out of 203. It is also the Philippines’s second-biggest Latin-American trading partner.
When fresh investments come from at least these two foreign markets, then it will definitely provide various economic opportunities for our country and its people.