RP, S'porean business leaders to boost bilateral investments
RP, S'porean business leaders to boost bilateral investments
SINGAPORE (AFP): Business leaders from the Philippines and
Singapore decided yesterday to boost bilateral and regional
investments in their first official contact since a diplomatic
spat over the hanging of a Filipina maid.
The second executive meeting of the Philippine-Singapore
Business Council also mapped out strategies to facilitate more
cooperation among small- and medium-scale enterprises of the two
countries, officials said.
"This is very welcome development. It is one more indication
that we are back on track. The future looks ... very hopeful,"
Philippine deputy ambassador Victoriano Lecaros told AFP.
In conjunction with the council meeting, a plenary session was
held for 43 Philippine and Singapore companies seeking to exploit
joint business collaboration, said a statement from Singapore's
investment-promotion agency. the Economic Development Board
(EDB).
The Philippines business delegation comprised leading
companies such as Ayala Corp., SGV and Co., Benedicto Steel
Corp., Petron Corp. and the Philippines National Oil Company.
They were accompanied by representatives of the Philippines
Board of Investment and the joint secretariat of the council, EDB
and the Makati Business Club.
The council discussed and endorsed the formulation of its two-
year workplan and moves to further encourage Singapore
investments in the Philippines and joint Philippine-Singapore
investments in third countries, the statement said.
The business talks were held amid the normalization of
relations after a bitter row over the March 1995 hanging of Flor
Contemplacion, who had been convicted of murdering a fellow
Filipina maid and a Singaporean toddler.
She had confessed to the murders, but her execution triggered
widespread protests in the Philippines, where many believed she
had been framed.
The two countries withdrew their ambassadors, downgrading
diplomatic ties, and Philippine President Fidel Ramos prohibited
any more Filipina maids from being sent to the city state.
But bilateral ties have since been normalized, with new
ambassadors taking up posts in April. Last month, Ramos lifted
the ban on Filipino domestic helpers taking up employment here.
Bilateral trade, in Singapore's favor, reached S$4.29 billion
(US$3.06 billion) last year, according to statistics provided by
Singapore's Trade Development Board.
The Philippine-Singapore Business Council's executive
committee meeting Wednesday was chaired by Guillermo Luchangco,
chairman of the ICCP Group of the Philippines. The co-chairman
was Loh Wing Siew, managing director of Singapore's Keppel Group.
Lecaros said that the next meeting of the council would be
held in Cebu in the Philippines in February.
The first council meeting was held in the Philippines in
January 1995 after it was launched in October 1994 in Singapore.