Firms urged to expand trade through network of chambers

Companies aiming to enter new markets or to expand their trade of products or services in Asia-Pacific economies can avail themselves of the trade facilitation services of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce (CACCI).

This was according to Ambassador Benedicto V. Yujuico, president of CACCI and a vice president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

Over the last 44 years, Yujuico said, CACCI had been enabling companies and individual businessmen to start, develop and sustain business deals in 29 regional economies.

With CACCI regional economies sharing 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic products, opportunities are open for large and small and medium enterprises in agriculture, energy, tourism, transportation, environment, infrastructure, property, banking and finance, labor, information technology, electronics and services.

He said that recent facilitated deals here included shipments of Philippine bananas to non-traditional markets under barter arrangements, purchase of refined petroleum products, and investments in a local petrochemical industrial factory.

Proposals under study are for plantation agriculture in Mindanao to supply food to the Middle East and private-public partnerships for infrastructure projects.

Yujuico said CACCI’s influence and clout were due to the memberships of apex chambers of commerce in Australasia, Southeast Asia, North Asia, South Asia and Central Asia.

CACCI is granted consultative status under the United Nations as a non-government organization for business.

The PCCI serves as the apex chamber in the country. It receives requests for trade facilitation services of CACCI for key market information, market opportunities or potential business partners and other contacts (distributors, agents, suppliers). CACCI spreads these requests throughout its strong network of chamber-members.