Six agreements between Chinese and Filipino firms were signed this week, following a business matchmaking seminar in Manila.
Companies based in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China partnered with Filipino enterprises in agreements that covered mutual cooperation in the areas of logistics, mining exports, hydropower energy, tourism, as well as charter flights between Guangxi’s capital, Nanning, and Manila.
The list was made available by Francis T. Chua, chair emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is in charge of his organization’s relations with counterparts in China.
Half of these agreements were made by Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co. Ltd. and Carrascal Nickel Corp. (CNC), which was one of the mining firms ordered shut last February by Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez.
The two companies agreed on the following: to build international logistics network nodes, for CNC to export to the Port Group 1.5 million tons of laterite nickel ore, and to ship these products to Beibu Gulf Shipping Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Port Group.
Moreover, Guangxi Hydroelectric Construction Bureau Co. Ltd. and Coheco Badeo Corp. agreed to develop the 500-MW Kibugan pumped-storage hydro electric power plant in Kibugan, Benguet, with an investment of about $550 million.
Guangxi Tourism Development Group Co. Ltd. and JTKC Group Co. agreed to work together to boost two-way tourism, a goal which coincides with the Chinese government’s promise of breaching the 1-million mark in terms of Chinese tourist arrivals in the country.
Also, Xi Yangyang International Travel Agency and FAB View Travel and Tours agreed to initiate the charter flight from Nanning to Manila and to Boracay Island for one year. Chua’s list did not name which airline would be used for this agreement.
These agreements come amidst improving relationship between China and the Philippines, a result of the latter’s softer stance in the territorial dispute over the South China Sea.