Italian trade mission to explore agribiz opportunities in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - An Italian trade mission is arriving in the country next week to explore opportunities in the agriculture sector.

According to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the trade mission, which will be in the country from March 18 to 19, is organized by the Italian Embassy and Italian Trade Agency in cooperation with the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Italian Manufacturers of Agricultural Machinery and the European Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The mission, led by Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Senator Benedetto Della Vedova of Italy, is composed of the following companies: Abbriata S.r.l., Wickerton S.p.A. (regional office for Agrex), Alpego S.p.A., BCS S.p.A., Boschi Servizi .S.r.l., Breviglieri S.p.A. Macchine Agricole, Hexagon Distributing Corp. (Philippine distributor for Celli), CNHIU Industrial SA, FALC S.r.l., Gome-High Tech Resource S.r.l., Uptown Industrial Sales Inc. (Philippine distributor for SAME), Selvatici S.r.l., Spapperi S.r.l., TechnoEnergy S.r.l., and TechnoEnergy Impinti S.r.l.

The mission will meet with Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes.

It will also meet with local firms here as the PCCI will host a luncheon and business matching session on March 18.

The PCCI expects the event to help Filipino companies tap opportunities to improve productivity and the competitiveness of Philippine products in the local market as well as overseas.

PCCI president Alfredo Yao is also hopeful the Philippine farm sector could tap financing from their Italian components of about 26 million euros under the project of their Italian Cooperation for Rural Development in Mindanao.

For his part, Roberto Amores, director-in-charge of the agriculture committee of the PCCI, said partnerships between local and Italian firms part are being pushed to support the growth of the agriculture sector here.

Amores noted that mechanized farming would further increase the contribution of agriculture from 10 percent of the gross domestic product and would also hike farm-related employment from 31 percent of total labor force.

The PCCI, which is the country’s largest business organization, is working with its partner organizations in other parts of the world in hosting business missions here.

The business missions are not only intended to encourage partnerships of local and foreign firms, but to also promote the country as a hub in the region.

The PCCI wants more firms to consider the Philippines as the location for their hub in the Southeast Asian region as the group supports the government’s goal of making the country an attractive destination for investments to create jobs and achieve inclusive economic growth.