RP awakens to the potentials of its neighbors
RP awakens to the potentials of its neighbors
By Mynardo Macaraig
DAVAO, Philippines (AFP): After courting investors and traders from the United States, Europe, Japan and the so-called tiger economies of Asia, the Philippines is finally awakening to the potential of its nearest neighbors, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Philippine President Fidel Ramos made business tie-ups a key priority in bilateral meetings with the heads of state of Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia here last week and in the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders in Jakarta last Saturday.
The Philippines' main business group, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), last month hosted a national conference in this southern city, specifically to court business leaders of nearby regions of the three countries.
Joint ventures and other business agreements worth 42 billion pesos (US$1.5 billion), all located in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao and its neighboring islands, were signed at the conference.
Yong Teck Lee, chief minister of the nearby Malaysian state of Sabah, said the 300-member delegation he brought to Davao signed 25 business agreements amounting to about 21 billion pesos ($87 million) during their visit.
More significant were the contacts made at the meeting, as well as the first-hand look that the 500 foreign delegates had of Mindanao, which has long suffered from a reputation of instability and danger, even among Filipinos elsewhere in the country.
Armad Ali, an official of Sabah's Bumiputra Chamber of Commerce, said "our visit has been very fruitful" and that he is negotiating to import seaweed and agricultural products from the Philippines while exporting white onions and soap to Mindanao.
The main benificiary of the conference seems to be the city of Davao, the trading center of the Mindanao area, which during the 1980s gained notoriety due to a series of urban assassinations by communist guerrillas.
But the communists have since dwindled in number, to be replaced by shopping malls and new cars filling the streets. "Today, the only killings are killings (made) in business," said PCCI chairman Aurelio Periquet.
A Philippine scheme to integrate the economies of the Mindanao area with those of the three nearby Asian nations under the so- called East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA), has also captured the imagination of business and government leaders.
ASEAN includes the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia as well as Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"Mindanao could be known for growth rates that could equal Asia's fastest growing economies," said Nicholas Miles, managing director of GHK Hong Kong Ltd., a consulting agency.
An Asian Development Bank (ADB) report on the potential of the EAGA identified scores of projects that could be carried out in the region in the short-term, including fishing joint ventures between Mindanao and the neighboring areas.
Mindanao could also serve as EAGA's source for such products and services as clay roof tiles and bricks, metal containers, pre-fabricated building components, concrete products, construction services, structural steel products, cement and marble processing, the report said.
However, the ADB also found trade barriers, lack of investment incentives, government red tape and inadequate transport and financial services still hampered the development of cross-border trade in the area.