Envoy wants UK-Phl trade to grow 5x in 3 years

MANILA, Philippines - British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad on Monday said he is looking at a 5-billion-pound (P374 billion) bilateral trade between the United Kingdom (UK) and the Philippines in the next three years.

"My minister said I need to make it 5 billion (British pounds) before I leave in three and a half years time. So I need to work really hard,” Ahmad said. Currently, trade between the two countries stands at 1 billion pounds, he said.

Ahmad said bBritish companies are looking into investing in retail, energy and infrastructure in the Philippines.

”There is so much more that could come here. That’s why I keep talking about infrastructure. If this country can really get some (infrastructure); and there (are) some big announcements (on infrastructure projects) already. We want more of that. More roads, a serious look at ports, airports, so really we can make it faster to get things that are not here… That requires organization, arrangement of transport,” he said.

He added that UK is also in talks with the Philippine government to build bridges in the county.

"I think on bridge building, we’re working one very big transaction. It’s a direct discussion we have with the government because the government actually needs to build steel bridges and concrete bridges in damaged areas and other places. And we’re quite involved with that,” he added.

Ahmad said the British Embassy in the Philippines has a business process outsourcing office that handles transactions for British embassies in Asia Pacific.

"...(B)ecause it’s successful in Asia Pacific, we’re now taking decision to close all our processing everywhere in the world. The only international operation would be in Manila, and the other one would be in the UK,” he said.