MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has partnered with the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) to set up a regional network to strengthen trade and investment ties between the two countries.
In a statement yesterday, the PCCI said its president Benedicto Yujuico and FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the 46th Philippine Business Conference and Expo held earlier this month.
Under the MOU, the two groups aim to create a regional manufacturing network to push for more trade and investments between the two countries.
In addition, they would work together in helping create a conducive business environment for both Filipino and Malaysian companies.
PCCI is the country’s largest business organization with over 30,000 member companies in more than 120 chapters.
Meanwhile, FMM is the largest private sector economic organization in Malaysia, representing over 3,000 manufacturing and industrial service companies.
“This is truly a remarkable milestone for PCCI and FMM. We know that FMM has consistently led Malaysian manufacturers in driving the growth and modernization of Malaysia. We hope that we could do the same for the Philippines by learning from each other,“ Yujuico said.
“We hope to already be able to establish our joint working group composed of representatives from our organizations to realize our objectives to restructure production networks under the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) manufacturing network,” he said.
Among the areas the PCCI would be pushing for under the partnership is the development of the halal industry covering food and non-food products and services.
Halal products and services follow the prescribed process of preparation according to Islamic law.