PH is worth exploring

UK prime minister’s trade envoy ‘strongly recommends’ trade agreements in Asia, Philippines

THE United Kingdom’s (UK) exit from the European Union is a good opportunity to expand trade relations with other countries, especially the Philippines, said UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to the Philippines Richard Graham, Member of the Parliament.

Graham told reporters that if he were to advise UK Prime Minister Teresa May where to explore and forge trade agreements with other countries it would be in Asia, which presently has the world’s fast growing economies.

“In my own point of view, I will be strongly recommending Asia, where there are a lot of countries where we can do good things and the Philippines is one of them...I also see huge potentials in ASEAN region too, and in the Philippines, we have seen the figures are encouraging,” said Graham.

Graham said UK is waiting for the fi- nal notice to exit the European Union. In the meantime, it can have informal discussions on the kind of agreements it would like to engage with other countries.

“The process is that we will trigger the exit and have discussions with EU, and we can leave them and have formal discussions with the Philippines and have bilateral trade agreements. But on both sides, there is now a lot of enthusiasm for both countries to grow,” said Graham.

Graham’s delegation visited the Philippines to show support and establish stronger ties with the administration through meetings with President Rodrigo Duterte, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and some business organizations.

He also visited Cebu last Friday to meet with Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza and the officials of the GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., where some UK businesses are currently engaged with for the operation and expansion of the MactanCebu International Airport.

According to Graham, it is helpful that the Duterte administration is keen on easing the 60-40 foreign ownership ruling, as this would drum up more foreign investments to the country.

“It is like opening the doors to companies and say here is the opportunity and you can have 100 percent in investments,” said Graham. “As of the moment though, the door is open but they don’t see the door is quite open enough.”

Specifically, Graham hopes to see British schools and universities being set up in the country.

“We would like to create British schools and universities here so that Filipinos wanting to have an international education will not have to worry about the cost of applying to UK and the accommodation. We could have it available for you here,” said Graham.

Aside from investments in education, Graham is also keen on increasing the UK’s investments in manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, among others, aside from helping the country in terms of upgrading its infrastructure.

UK trade and investment Director Mike Moon said two-way trade between both countries reached 1.3 billion pounds last year with the surplus in favor of the Philippines.

Moon said exports from the UK to the Philippines improved 38 percent year-onyear in 2015.

Graham said they hope to grow the trade volume between two countries as this will help expand more opportunities and will translate to more good job opportunities, skills training for both British and Filipino workers, and better standard of living.