Members of the business delegation that will accompany President Aquino to China for his four-day state visit next week will be meeting with their Chinese counterparts to explore business opportunities.
In an interview Friday, Trade Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio said the President’s state visit would be economy-centered, with focus on forging business and trade ties.
The local business delegation, however, would be holding separate meetings with Chinese businesses, independent of the sessions that the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs had lined up.
“We want to have a Filipino-Chinese business forum. We’re contacting 150-200 Chinese business leaders to try to build relationships with them,’’ he told reporters.
In an earlier interview, Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. said the Philippines and China were set to sign by month’s end a five-year development program for trade and economic cooperation.
This medium-term plan, he said, was meant to improve trade between the two countries as well as better facilitate investment inflow.
The signing of the agreement, which would be just one of six agreements to be signed during the state visit, would be witnessed by President Aquino and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
According to the latest Philippine Export Development Plan, China is one of the key emerging markets that the country is targeting for its exports, particularly at this time when the Philippines’ biggest trading partners, Japan and the United States, are experiencing economic difficulties.
Data from the Department of Trade and Industry showed that the Philippines’ exports to China reached $2.86 billion in the first half and $481.73 million in June alone.
Last year, total trade between the Philippines and China hit $10.31 billion. Exports alone surged 94.61 percent vis-à-vis 2009 figures.