The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. is aggressively pushing for the development of Southern Mindanao in a bid to expand the region's global market linkages and help exporters tap new markets abroad.

ECCP vice president Martial Beck said in an interview that the group has lined up several initiatives that would enable members to link Mindanao to small and medium enterprises in Europe.

"ECCP started a new project ... to encourage European SMEs to take advantage (of the business opportunities) in the Philippines. Our overlapping interests are in the agribusiness, tourism and energy. These are three sectors we consider as low hanging fruits and they offer great promise for Mindanao in particular," Beck told the Inquirer.

According to Beck, ECCP has been sending market reports to Europe to in­ form SMEs there about the Philippines' huge potential. The group also offers small and medium businesses in Europe with the necessary assistance to find the right partners in Mindanao via the ECCP office in Davao.

"We also assist exporters of various products from Mindanao in finding clients in Europe via our vast network of contacts and [through] trade participation," Beck added. "We also want to start special partnerships with industry clusters in Europe, for instance in biotechnology. European technology can be transferred to Mindanao, which is blessed with abundant natural resources, vegetables, fruits, seafood, among others."

Last month, the ECCP signed a memorandum of agreement with the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. (Amcham Davao) and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Mindanao (JCCM) to show support for an investment forum to be held in Davao later this year.

"This forum will be in line with the National Economic and Development Authority's (Neda) Southern Mindanao Growth Corridor (SMGC) concept aimed at expanding the region's global market linkages, together with the event's goal in taking advantage of the vast potential of Southern Mindanao, particularly in light of the opportunities presented by the Asean Integration in 2015," ECCP said.

ECCP was referring to the establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) by end­2015, which would supposedly mark the completion of all the measures that the 10 member states initiated years ago.

The AEC is seen to herald "a new era for borderless competition" across industries.

This economic integration is expected to transform the Asean countries, which include the Philippines, into a single market and production base, characterized by the free flow of goods, services, skilled labor, investments and capital.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, 12 May 2014