Invest in China, envoy urges Filipino entrepreneurs

Beijing is urging Filipino entrepreneurs to invest more in China, take advantage of the country’s continuous rise and the opportunities presented by its current free trade agreement (FTA) with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Chinese ambassador Liu Jianchao said the Asean-China free trade deal, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2010, covers 7,000 items with zero tariffs. Signed in 2003, the FTA established Asean and China as the world’s largest free-trade area. “We want to see more investments from the Philippines, particularly in property, food and beverage production, as well as in the retail and services sector," Liu said in a briefing with reporters in his residence in Forbes Park, Makati last week. Liu said China is "shifting its mode of economic development" by strengthening domestic consumption, investments and exports that private investors from the Philippines should take advantage of by increasing investments in food and beverage production. Likewise, China is eyeing increasing investments in the Philippines "in the areas where it is successful," including mining, agriculture products, and power generation. Liu cited that January-October trade between the Philippines and China increased by 40.2 percent to $22.7 billion year-on-year. "We welcome the pronouncements of President Benigno Aquino III to press ahead with economic development. China would like to be a good partner of the Philippines in these social and economic undertakings," ambassador Liu said. China’s exports to the Philippines in January-October reached $9.4 billion, up 40 percent from exports in the same period last year. Philippine exports to China totaled $13.3 billion, up 40.4 percent in the same comparable period. Next to the US and Japan, China is the Philippines’ third largest trading partner. In turn, the Philippines is China’s sixth largest trading partner, Liu said. Asean groups the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Brunei as one trading block. Sharing political, security and economic ties, China, along with Japan and South Korea, counts among Asean's main dialog partners. — DM/JE/VS, GMANews.TV