CCCI to explore ties to Europe

Aside from forging ties with Southeast Asian neighbors, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) will also be exploring Europe to grow its foreign trade links.

CCCI president Melanie Ng said they will reach out to more countries this year, as part of the chamber’s effort to expand CCCI and Cebu’s exposure to global trade.

“There would be more countries to reach out to this year like China and Japan, primarily. But we will also look into Europe,” said Ng, adding that they will take advantage of the country’s popularity to capture investments or forge business deals.

“There’s a lot of interest about the Philippines now. There’s a lot of business opportunities to discuss,” said Ng.

According to the National Economic Development Authority (Neda), the Philippines remains one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. It is currently the second fastest after Vietnam, as of the third quarter of 2017, ahead of China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Neda said the country recorded a 6.7-percent growth in the first three quarters of 2017.

Ng said CCCI still has to identify which countries in Europe the chamber is going to explore.

She, however, emphasized that there is a need for Cebu’s private sector to reenforce its links to the recovering European economy.

EU Ambassador Franz Jessen noted the European economy is growing at a rate of 2.4 percent, resulting in increased trade with the rest of the world, including the Philippines.

The ambassador, in a report, said the Philippines is enjoying increased access to the EU’s vast market, especially with its Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status.

Under the EU’s GSP+, 6,274 tariff lines are entitled to zero-duty when exported to the 28 EU member-countries.

This has a wider coverage compared to the 6,209 products under the regular GSP, of which, only 2,442 are subject to zero duty while 3,767 have reduced tariffs.

Jessen said the EU is the second largest export market for Filipino exporters, with strong growth noted in sectors benefiting from GSP+ trade preferences such as agri-food. /