PITC seen to play key rolein boosting Philippines-Russia ties

MOSCOW — The Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), the state global trading enterprise attached to the Department of Trade and Industry, will play a key role in enhancing economic ties between the Philippines and Russia, its top official told The STAR.

“We see significant mutual cooperation between two countries not only in terms of business and trade for both parties but many more,” PITC president and CEO Dave Almarinez said.

Almarinez signed on behalf of the Philippine government a memorandum of understanding with Russia’s Geo Spectrum, an agency similar to the functions of PITC.

“The MOU will cover a broad range of products such as coconut oil, marine products, agribusiness and pharmaceuticals. They want to export to the Philippines and to come in as a manufacturers,” Almarinez said.

The Philippines can export its agriculture products to Russia while Geospectrum can bring in goods from this Eurasian country to the Philippine market through PITC.

Russia is particularly interested in importing coconut oil, carrageenan, frozen marine and seafood products, processed food and beverage, furniture, automotive batteries and agricultural products such as bananas.

The Philippines, meanwhile, is interested in Russia’s steel billets, urea fertiliser, coal, pharmaceutical ingredients, chemicals, wheat flour and sewn timber for furniture and builder woodworks.

Almarinez signed the MOU on the sidelines of the Philippine-Russia Business Forum here last week as part of President Duterte’s official visit.

The move to tap other trading partners is part of the Duterte administration’s non-traditional foreign and trade policy.

“The direction really is to open doors to other trading partners. The social impact of this is that it will create more jobs and opportunities for the Philippines, especially SMEs. So this will benefit not only big corporations but for businesses that wish to grow,” Almarinez said.

The government also hopes to bring in pharmaceutical products from Russia either through distribution or by setting up manufacturing hubs in the Philippines, all aimed at bringing down prices of medicines in the country.

Some pharmaceutical products that can be brought to the Phl include vaccines, Almarinez said.

The visit of the business delegation here of over 200 traders from the Philippines resulted in $875 million worth of projects between Philippine and Russian companies, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

The MOU signed by PITC, meanwhile, is among the several economic, scientific and technical cooperation among private and government institutions of both Russia and the Philippines.

Lopez expects trade to improve as a result of the visit. The Department of Foreign Affairs said bilateral trade between Manila and Moscow in 2016 totalled $226 million, with the Philippines exporting only $49 million worth of goods to Russia.