DTI sets trade missions to new markets in 2014

The Department of Trade and Industry will embark on more roadshows this year as part of efforts to increase the number of markets that Philippine industries and businesses can serve.

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said the DTI planned to hold trade and investment missions in Scandinavian countries and Canada, on top of trips to the country’s established markets such as Japan, Korea, western Europe, and the United States.

“We will be pushing for various sectors. In Japan and Korea, we will push for investments in manufacturing, while in Europe, it will be a mix, from services, SME (small and medium enterprises) type of manufacturing to maybe, some aircraft type of work,” Domingo disclosed.

“In the Scandinavian countries, a lot of the things that we will offer would be in high technology industries including services and IT (information technology). In Canada, it will be resource-based, but we are still researching which specific industries we can offer for investments,” he added.

Early this year, the DTI participated in business missions to Indonesia; Malaysia, alongside the state visit of President Aquino; and Singapore, where the DTI attended the 2014 Singapore Airshow.

In Indonesia, the Philippine delegation received expressions of interest to invest in several industries including banking and finance, palm oil and rubber plantations, energy (coal mining), as well as pharmaceuticals. Investors in Malaysia, meanwhile, are eyeing business opportunities in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

In Singapore, the DTI wooed major players in the global aerospace industry to make the Philippines their prime hub in the region for maintenance, repair and overhaul.

Last year, the DTI and the Board of Investments embarked on nine outbound missions—one in the United States (California, New York, Washington D.C and Georgia), five in Asia (Thailand, Korea, China, Singapore, Japan), and three in Europe (Austria; France and United Kingdom; and Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland).

The target sectors were manufacturing, agribusiness, auto parts and components, aerospace, electronics, infrastructure, and health information management.

The Philippines is positioning itself as the possible investment hub in the Asean region of companies and industries based in the identified potential new markets.