U.K. keen on private-public partnerships in PH

MANILA, Philippines — The U.K. is interested in participating further in the Philippines’ Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) program, according to a statement
from the British Embassy.

Peter Wilson, Director of the Asia Pacific Directorate of the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office in London, said British companies have taken an interest in doing business in the Philippines and the U.K. government would like to assist the Philippines in its PPPs.

They are apparently keen on PPPs related to transportation, oil and
other infrastructure projects.

The U.K. government has already shared some of its expertise by bringing in two PPP experts early this year to talk to key government agencies and local government officials.

Wilson has expressed hope that more consultations in London can be arranged to take advantage of the huge amount of PPP expertise in the UK.

“The U.K. government is placing a great deal of emphasis in the Philippines. This is an important initiative by our government to look very carefully at the political and economic opportunities represented by the shift in power in the world to the east and to the south. These talks are a very important illustration of that,” Wilson said in a statement following the recently concluded Second Philippines-United Kingdom High Level Meeting.

Wilson said the U.K. was the largest European investor in the Philippines and trade between the two countries has been increasing rapidly.

“We look at the huge growth of the Philippine economy. Your growth last year of over 7 per cent, the highest in 35 years, is one that has gone very much noticed in the UK. The interest in our companies of doing business in the Philippines and the interest that we have in attracting Philippine investment to the U.K. is very strong,” Wilson said.

He noted that further investment liberalization and reforms that would ease doing business would definitely boost British foreign direct investment in the Philippines.

The Second Philippines-United Kingdom High Level Meeting also covered the Mindanao peace process, of which the U.K. has been “cautiously optimistic.”

“Our experience in Northern Ireland did show that the wider the involvement of groups in peace talks, the more likely it is that one is going to have success. I do think that even a very tough peace process is solvable by appropriate political attention and wide involvement of people in the consultation process as is happening in Mindanao,” Wilson said.

“With the appropriate attention, with a strong political will, even problems that are very tough to solve are solvable. The Philippine Government is approaching these talks in a very positive way and that gives us a great cause of confidence that further progress can be made,” Wilson said.

Wilson also praised the 250,000-strong Filipino community in the U.K. “for their contribution to the U.K. economy and society,” particularly in the National Health Service.