DAVAO CITY — Following the Belgian business mission here just this month, the European
Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) is poised to send another business
mission to Mindanao in August; this time with a big delegation from various
business groups in Europe.
In a briefing on Mindanao business prospects held at the Mindanao Economic
Development Council (Medco), His Excellency Gregoire Vordakis, Ambassador of
Belgium to the Philippines, said that they were really eager to visit Mindanao to
see for themselves its untapped resources.
Vordakis brought with him two colleagues from ECCP and met with Medco, the Davao
Chamber of Commerce and Industries Incorporated (DCCI), the Department of Trade (DTI)
and some local business entities involved in agriculture production,
manufacturing, real estates, architecture and business process outsourcing (BPO). The delegation wanted to take a closer look at the potential investments in the island-region.
“We will be back to Manila with a handful of proposals and we are very eager to
report the outcome of our visit here to our colleagues in ECCP,” said Vordakis. He added that Belgium and the rest of Europe are very willing to help develop
the economy of Mindanao.
Marison Loreto, Trade department regional director, said that Mindanao has been receiving a
lot of business missions from abroad lately. He said that Mindanao’s manpower and infrastructure-support facilities are already in place and can provide a business-friendly environment for investors.
With the Belgian business mission in Mindanao, Loreto hopes that the DTI would be
able to find Mindanao’s market niche in the EU market.
“We’re making comparisons of our previous business missions we’ve had in different parts of the country and we are quite optimistic in the business prospects here in Mindanao”, said Vordakis.
The mission earlier reported that the Philippines has exported 240.44 million Euros worth of merchandise to Belgium from January to October last year. A big part of this are vegetable and vegetable products, transport materials, raw materials for plastic and rubber products and chemical industries. (Medco)
Business, eccp, Mindanao
