Government: Russia trip a huge success

MOSCOW – The Duterte administration and the Philippine business delegates hailed President Duterte’s visit to this Eurasian country as a huge success despite his sudden return to Manila.

Russia likewise welcomed the new friendship with the Philippines and expressed its support for Duterte’s all-out war against terrorism and illegal drugs, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

 “The trip is a huge success but it could have been a lot better with the President,” Lopez said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano likewise said the very warm reception of President Vladimir Putin made the visit successful.

“President Putin was in a different region and he had a schedule but he flew back to meet with President Duterte,” Cayetano told THE STAR.

Lopez said that while Duterte had to cut short his trip as a result of the situation in Marawi, the business delegation meetings here and in St. Petersburg proceeded as planned and $875 million in potential investment.

“About 10 projects between Philippines and Russian companies were already signed with potential investments of $875 million, thus creating new jobs,” Lopez said.

He said the number would increase once the other agreements are finalized.

 “Some of the agreements signed were in the form of joint venture, licensing, technical assistance, training and apprenticeship and exchange of peoples and experts for economic and technical purposes,” he said.

The industries covered are agriculture, trucking, automotive, energy, pharmaceutical, property development, infrastructure and iron and steel among others.

The Trade department organized two business forums, one in Moscow and another in St. Petersburg.

Lopez said the events were well attended by both Philippine and Russian investors.

“We had about 450 investors who attended in Moscow and at St. Petersburg we had about 200.  Around 70 percent are Russians and 30 percent of attendees are Filipinos,” Lopez said.

He said the forums were successful not only because of their huge attendance but because of the good networking and business leads created from both sides.

“This is just the beginning of our deep and strong partnership with Russia. They await with excitement the return of the president to Russia and they will certainly extend more fields of cooperation, building on what we have started,” Lopez said.

There will also be industrial cooperation agreements to promote common interests in iron and steel, machineries, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, shipbuilding and ship repair, automotive, aerospace as well as culture, arts and many more, he added.

Michael Tan, president of LT Group Inc. agreed that the trip was a success.

“Russia is the biggest country in the world but our bilateral trade with Russia is small. The visit was a great success because it opened business opportunities to do more trade. It’s an important first step,” Tan told THE STAR.

Jose Concepcion III, president and CEO of RFM Corp. and presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship echoed the same view.

“A concert without the star is never the same. But the president had to make a choice and return home. Maybe he could have stayed one more day but his priority is the Filipino people when in trouble. But the business forum was a success considering the circumstances. This was a good start in building a relationship with other Russian businessmen as trade between two countries is not much yet,” Concepcion said.