Phl, Canada to exchange trade missions

MANILA, Philippines - An outbound trade mission composed of Filipino firms is set to go to Canada, while two inbound Canadian missions are expected to arrive here in the coming months in line with strengthening the trade and investment ties of the two countries, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (CanCham) said.

While there is interest from Canada to grow trade and investments here, the group notes the need for the Philippine government to relax restrictive foreign ownership rules as well as address other issues affecting businesses.

CanCham executive director Cora dela Cruz said in an interview yesterday the group is organizing its first outbound trade mission from the Philippines to Canada amid interest from member-firms.

The trade mission which would  over focus on the agribusiness and food sector, would be in Canada from Aug. 15 to 24.

“We would like to have a manageable group. We would like to have 20 to 25 companies (part of the mission),” Dela Cruz said.

The delegation would visit Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal to attend trade fairs and conferences as well as meet with Canadian firms.

CanCham president Julian Payne said the chamber decided to have the trade mission focus on agribusiness and food following consultations made with member-firms.

“Food is a big component of trade between the Philippines and Canada,” he said.

Other areas of interest of CanCham’s members are in the education, tourism and medical tourism sectors.

Dela Cruz said two inbound trade missions from Canada are also expected to arrive in the country.

The first inbound mission composed of nine to 10 firms from British Columbia with interest in the information technology sector, would arrive next week.

Another trade mission which consists of firms engaged in agribusiness would be in the country sometime this year.

In line with encouraging greater trade and investment links, the CanCham is also set to hold the Canada Day Fair  in Cebu on June 30, and in Manila on July 1.

The event would have a trade fair featuring Canadian companies that have products and services targeted for the Philippine market, as well as Filipino companies that want to market their goods to Canada.

As there is increasing interest from Canadian firms to do business here, Payne said the country should take advantage by addressing impediments to attracting more foreign direct investments (FDI).

In particular, he said the country needs to relax foreign ownership restrictions.

“The Philippines has relatively restrictive foreign ownership rules. The government is trying to attract more FDIs by trying to ease restrictions in FINL (Foreign Investment Negative List). We also support (House) Speaker (Feliciano) Belmonte (Jr.)’s resolution. All these will help increase FDIs to the Philippines,” he said.

Belmonte’s Resolution No. 1 seeks to have the Senate and Congress introduce amendments to relax or provide flexibilities in the constitutional restrictions on foreign investments, with the view of encouraging more foreign firms to invest in the country.

The Constitution sets a 40 percent limit on foreign ownership in certain sectors.