Israel chamber head wants to‘double’Israel-PH trade

ISRAEL Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines ICCP , has installed a new president seeking to “double” bilateral trade with the Philippines.

Itamar Geo, the new ICCP president, told reporters last week that the chamber would work hard to “double” its bilateral trade with the Philippines from the “few tens of millions” of dollars to date.

Geo replaced former ICCP president Eyal S. en Ari.

“It s still not as big as we wanted it to be because we know Vietnam gets a lot more volume. It s not enough . . . ut I can say in my administration, we want to double it which will not be a hard task because it s still kind of stagnant,” Geo said, who is set to govern ICCP from 6 to .

The latest data available from the World Trade Organization or the ICCP website is only from , and estimated Philippine e ports to Israel at just over 8 million that year, without providing other details of investment between the two countries.

The new ICCP president has come up with a roadmap called 6- A Roadmap to Success which focuses on awareness and promotion of the Philippines as a good investment and tourism destination, as well as streamlining processes and assistance for Israeli companies wanting to invest and do business in the country.

The roadmap outlines ICCP s plan for this year and ne t, which includes the launching of a new website, hosting a number of events and meetings, e ecuting platforms and activities, as well as providing membership bene ts.

“Right now there is a growth in local demand which means many more are able to afford services . . . the Philippines is looking for solutions, and Israel wanted to be that solution because we re known to be the cusp of technology . . . Israel can provide that solution; right time,” Geo said.

“If we do our job right, you ll see a lot of Israeli companies here. A lot of fellow entrepreneurs who want to connect,” he added.

He said Israeli companies are able to provide “advances technology” to local industries such as the medical, information technology, tourism, and agriculture sectors.

At present, IT technology-centric Israel has been contributing through solutions in the thriving business process outsourcing PO sector of the country.

Asked of Israelis prospects in it s the

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