Philippines businessmen view Bangladesh as a promising market

Filipino stakeholders are keen to develop the economic ties between Bangladesh and the Philippines viewing Bangladesh as a promising market.

They expressed the view at a seminar on “Promoting Bilateral Trade and Investment between Bangladesh and Philippines” organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI)  in collaboration with Bangladesh Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BPCCI) in the city on Monday.

Jeremiah C Reyes, Philippines Commercial Attache, said that the economic ties between both countries should be closer. “Bangladesh is a potential market. So we want to explore this promising market,” he said.  

DCCI also hosted a B2B matchmaking between the visiting Philippines trade team and their Bangladeshi counterparts.

Agnes Perpetua R. Legaspi, Assistant Director, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Republic of the Philippines, led the delegation.

Presiding over the seminar, DCCI President Osama Taseer said that the bilateral trade till now has been insignificant in terms of both value and share, hovering around $65 million during FY2017-18.

“Bangladesh can develop its agriculture with the knowledge transfer from Philippines, skills in food production, processing, canning and packaging, IT, Business Process Outsourcing (BOP), electronics, tourism, etc. On the other hand, the Philippines can collaborate with Bangladesh’s RMG, pharmaceuticals and ceramics sector,” he said.

He underscored the importance of direct flights between Bangladesh and the Philippines for increasing people-to-people contacts. Moreover, preferential trade agreements leading to bilateral free trade agreement could open up substantial economic gains for both countries.

Ambassador of the Philippines in Bangladesh Vicente Vivencio T. Bandillo could not attend the seminar but sent his written speech through Leo Marco C. Vidal, Charge D’ Affaires, Embassy of the Philippines in Bangladesh.

The Ambassador said in his written speech that the Philippines would like to export more to Bangladesh. They would like to see more Filipino companies taking advantages of the opportunities in Bangladesh for trade and investment. They will welcome more Bangladeshi exports to Philippines.

He also invited Bangladeshi companies to invest in Philippines to boost bilateral trade volume.

Engr. Akber (AL) Hakim, President of BPCCI and Director of DCCI said that its time for Asia. Asia is going to overtake the rest of the world by 2020 on PPP basis. Contribution of Asia in the world GDP is 42% in terms of PPP basis.

“The size of economy of Bangladesh and Philippines will reach around US$ 3 trillion and 3.3 trillion respectively,” he said.

He urged the businessmen of Philippines to import RMG, leather and leather goods, jute and jute goods, vegetables from Bangladesh.

He said Philippines can help Bangladesh in skill development, training for skill development, IT and IT enabled services, Business process Outsourcing (BPO), hospitality and nursing. The Philippines receives $30 billion as remittance every year through their skilled workforce, he said.

Agnes Perpetua R. Legaspi, Assistant Director, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Republic of the Philippines urged increasing the existing bilateral trade.

DCCI’s former President R M Khan, Directors Alhaj Deen Mohammad, Enamul Haque Patwary, Hossain A Sikder, Engr. Md. Al Amin, Nuher L. Khan, Shams Mahmud, former Director Rizwan Ur Rahman were also present on the occasion.