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THE GOVERNMENT WILL host another mining conference on Oct. 16 this year, in a bid to further strengthen trading and marketing of minerals in the region.

“This is an opportunity for the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries to share their successes and failures, as well as learn from each other best practices in the mining industry,” Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said.

According to Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Horacio Ramos, the Philippines has invited the environment and mining ministers from the Southeast Asia + 3, which will also include China, Japan and Korea.

“Secretary Atienza will hold an Asean mining ministers forum so all his counterpart officials from the region will be here,” Ramos said. “They have notified us that they will be coming.”

Ramos noted that the government and the sponsor of the event, the local Chamber of Mines, are in the process of studying the final agenda of the conference. Discussions will focus on regional unity in terms of trade and marketing.

Ramos said that an item in the conference agenda would be to encourage free exchange of information regarding mineral imports and exports within the region.

For one, this initiative would address problems of mineral smuggling not only in the Philippines, but elsewhere in the region, he said.

“We feel there is smuggling, given the discrepancies in the mineral import and export information,” Ramos explained.

He cited as example government records, which showed that the Philippines exported to China a total of 7 million metric tons of nickel over a given a period. But according to the Chinese, nickel shipments from the Philippines were around 9 million metric tons.

Last year, the 7th Asia Pacific Mining Conference and Exhibition was able to boost investor confidence in the country as foreign companies expressed their optimism in the Philippines as a mining investment site.

• The Metro Manila advantage
• Let the dog wag its tail
• Cosmetics firm taps talents via student competition

• China wants new global monetary system
• Solons caution gov’t on privatization