DAVAO CITY – An official of the European Union (EU) in the Philippines lauded The EU-Philippines Partnership and Cooperation Agreement concurred in the Senate for ratification on January 22.

“It is a very good news to us,” said Walter van Hattum, head of economic and trade section, Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines.

Hattum said President Duterte earlier passed it on to the Senate. Hattum, who was in Davao City for the Mindanao Business Briefing spearheaded by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), considered it an important agreement because “we have a political agreement with the Philippines that could be within 30 years and this is like a renewal of partnership covering all areas of cooperation, mostly political cooperation and also in terms of economic cooperation”.

"A lot of areas mentioned there is on how the EU and Philippines can work together," he said.

He said there's a lot of issues that could be tackled such as on customs, on maritime affairs wherein the EU and Philippines could work together more closely.

He said EU is the second largest export market for the Philippines and also the second largest investor in the country.

Hattum said a lot of European companies interested in the Philippines.

But he said that compared to the level of investments by neighboring countries, European investments were still relatively small because the investors were not yet here.

“They still need to get more familiarity with the Philippines,” said Hattum, adding, "But in general there’s keen interests in the country."

ECCP President Guenter Taus said Europe was a continent full of opportunities comprising of 50 countries with 530 million inhabitants, USD 20 trillion GDP and USD 38,000 GDP per capita and USD 4.7 trillion total trade volume.

He said in terms of trade and investment between EU-Philippines the 2016 figure showed that Germany captured 30 percent, Netherlands, 18 percent, and France, 11 percent.

Among the top three EU imports from the Philippines were electrical machinery and equipment, machinery and mechanical appliances, optical medical or surgical instruments while the top three EU exports to the Philippines where on electrical and equipment machinery and mechanical appliances, aircraft, spacecraft and parts.

This year, Taus said the ECCP would conduct a business mission on February 23 for food and beverage, April 27 to 28, healthcare and in June on maritime.

Among the industry sectors that are covered are energy, water utilities and infrastructure, food and beverage, furniture and furnishings, gift toys and houseware, industrial, IT, BPO, electronics, medical, sports, transportation, travel and tourism.

Meanwhile, Taus said ECCP would be launching on February 8 the Business PH, an initiative lead by ECCP to promote doing business in the Philippines via print collaterals and digital medical.

The "Doing Business in the Philippines" booklet would be distributed and promoted around Asia and Europe at all events and business missions. The Visayas and Mindanao edition was ongoing, he said.

The Business Philippines website, an online portal with contents of doing business in the Philippines booklet and infographics will go live on February 2018 and promoted towards Asia and Europe.

Taus said the ECCP works with DTI, BOI, CITEM, DOT, DA, Export Marketing Bureau, Game Developers Association of the Phils,, Philippine Solution Industry Association, Philfoodex, Philippine Constructors Association, Inc. ECCP Davao members include Harttman Constant Integrated Project Development Corp., Glun, Regus, Harger Media Communication, Hijo Resources Corporation, Freedom, Malagos Garden Resort, Biotech Farms, Seda Abreeza, Agro Industrial Cable Transport Inc, BF Industries Inc, Sagrex Corporation, DamosaLand, The Marco Polo Davao.

He also said that ECCP's partners in Davao were Davao City Investment and Promotion Center (DCIPC), Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). (Digna D. Banzon/PNA).

This article was orignally published on January 25, 2018 on PhilippineNewsAgency.gov.ph»