EU-ABC sees Philippines as new investment site

MANILA, Philippines — The EU- ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) is optimistic about the potential of the Philippines as a destination for foreign direct investment (FDIs) given recent economic developments, emphasizing its support for the resumption of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA).

“We do need to take the Philippines centerstage and you have so much going for the country here. You have one of the best GDP (gross domestic product) growth rates in the region and you now have a great progressive forward thinking economic team. The reforms are coming through other countries becoming more and more attractive for FDI,” EU-ASEAN Business Council executive director Chris Humphrey said in a press conference for the 10th annual European-Philippine Business Dialogue organized by the EU-ABC and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP).

He stressed that the country has huge potential, but unfortunately has, until now, been underperforming compared to some of its ASEAN neighbours.

“However, we are now seeing positive developments from the economic team under President Marcos Jr. that will surely improve the standing of the country as a destination for FDI from Europe. Being part of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) will be a significant benefit to the country,” Humphrey said.

For his part, ECCP president Lars Wittig emphasized that the Philippines witnessed significant strides in boosting business confidence and the country’s position as a competitive destination for trade and investments.

“This is following the enactment of economic reforms and the recent creation of a “green lane” for strategic investments. Further, we have seen solid headway in facilitating ease of doing business, particularly in terms of the ease of establishing reliable supply chain connection and structural factors as the country moves 17 spots, from 60th to 43rd place, in terms of logistics performance index as reported by the World Bank,” he said.

“Certainly, there is much opportunity for Europe and the Philippines to strengthen their economic ties, especially in line with their longstanding trade and investment relations,” Wittig said.

The ECCP president urged the Philippines to further leverage its status as the only ASEAN country beneficiary of the EU GSP+ EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade preference.

“We equally look forward to further advancements in the EU-PH FTA discussions, which are crucial for the Philippines to become a magnet for European investments,”he said.

Similarly, Humphrey also expressed hope for the resumption of discussions of an EU-Philippines FTA, emphasizing that this would really put the Philippines on the map for European businesses.

He stressed that the EU-ABC sees the Philippines as the country with the “greatest potential to secure an FTA the fastest across the region”.

The EU-ABC is currently in the Philippines for a series of engagements with key government representatives.

On Monday, the EU-ABC met with Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual who emphasized that the Philippines is keen on pursuing the resumption of negotiations concerning the Philippines-EU FTA.

Pascual stressed that a successful negotiation of the FTA would help the Philippines secure additional duty-free market access beyond those covered by the scheme.

He said this would  also provide a conducive framework for attracting greater investments from the EU, and put the Philippines at par with other ASEAN countries that  are aggressively pursuing FTAs with the EU.

“I’d like to reemphasize our growth strategy centered around enhancing trade and investment. Our objective is to foster job creation and poverty reduction by uplifting the global position of our export sectors and driving investments into strategic areas,”Pascual said.