Spain plans to make PH investment hub in Asean

MANILA, Philippines—Spain is looking at the possibility of making the Philippines its hub for trade and investments in the region and gateway to the other member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a senior Spanish government official said Monday.

“The Philippines is the best hub to introduce our companies in Asia. I hope we can find the best way to do business in this part of the world,” said Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo at the general membership meeting of the Makati Business Club on Monday.

One of the possible areas for cooperation is infrastructure, as companies from Spain are reportedly constructing and/or managing some 37 percent of global transportation concessions.

Visiting Spanish companies are also looking at opportunities in tourism, manufacturing and agriculture, added MBC executive director Peter V. Perfecto.

There are 25 representatives from about 15 Spanish companies looking to do business or set up facilities in the Philippines.

“(Spain) already has a relationship with the country, given historical links. They also found it very easy to work with the Philippine business community, and that’s why they (Spanish firms) want to have this memorandum of understanding with us so that our business sectors from both sides can work together on a long-term basis,” Margallo said.

MBC signed an MOU on Monday with the High Council of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Spain, and the Confederation of Employers and Industries in Spain.

The MOU is meant to “promote the inter-relation of the business communities in increasing trade between the Republic of the Philippines and Spain… and to conduct research and study, perform intermediation and liaison and advance recommendations to the respective governments in order to promote economic, commercial and technological cooperation between the Philippines and Spain.”