British Chamber highlights growth in Philippine-UK trade, supports further opening of economy

MANILA, Philippines – The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines Executive Director/Trustee Chris Nelson shared that digitalization will continue to strengthen the momentum of UK-Philippine trade relations.  

In an interview with ANC Market Edge Anchor Stanley Palisada, British Chamber of Commerce Philippines Executive Director/Trustee Chris Nelson shared that investment in infrastructure and digitalization remains to be a critical challenge to the Philippines, especially given the rapid digital transformation of the global economic landscape. With this, the British Chamber believes that digitalization could help improve the overall Philippine economy. 

“What we see going forward is that the UK can assist the Philippines, particularly with digitalization and startups. And I think you can see the cooperation [between both countries],” shared Nelson. 

Last June 12-14, the London Tech Week was held. One of the British Chamber’s Members — CyberQ Group — participated in the event as represented by the CEO of Asia Pacific Roberto Tayag. In addition, Nelson shared that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted an exclusive reception at 10 Downing for 200 global tech leaders, which include Philippine delegation representatives from leading companies such as GCash, Kickstart Ventures and Digital Pilipinas (Amor Maclang). 

PM Sunak said that the London Tech Week is an important event, and one of his top priorities is to grow the UK economy. In line with this, the London Tech Week was a prime opportunity for the UK and PH to explore possible cooperation to improve the tech industry in the Philippines and provide UK tech businesses with a new target market. 

Currently, the Department of Trade and Industry, led by Secretary Alfredo Pascual, is having a Philippine Investment Roadshow in Europe to attract foreign investments in the country. 

Aside from digitalization, the British Chamber believes that there is a growing business opportunity in the food and beverage, renewable energy, and education sectors. In fact, the BCCP successfully celebrated the 10th World Gin Day last June 22, with GSMI as the main partner, and was participated by 14 UK gin companies. 

Bilateral trade between the Philippines and the UK reached 2.4 billion pounds and increased by 26% last year. There is a need to increase foreign direct investment and the Chamber supports the efforts of House Speaker Martin Romualdez with Charter Change. Indeed, the British Chamber remains committed to advocacies to further liberalization, improve infrastructure, digitalization, and overall Philippine economic growth.