DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A three-day expo hosted by the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Davao City is set to happen here to strengthen Indonesia’s bilateral trade with the Philippines.
The 2nd Indonesia Manufactured Products Expo will run from November 23 to 25, 2018 at the Abreeza Mall. The event is open and free for the public and will showcase 20 booths of Indonesian construction and building materials, housewares, batik, fashion products, food and beverages, health care, beauty products, agricultural machinery, and many others.
Endah R. Yuliarti Farry, Consul for Information and Socio-Cultural Affairs, announced the event at the Habi at Kape press conference. She also disclosed that all the promotional activities of the expo focus on the sustainable and productive economic and trade relations through direct trade and people to people contact between Indonesia and Mindanao.
The expo also includes an art and culture expo, a business forum and business matching.
“The second IMPE is aimed at increasing bilateral trade relations between Indonesia and the Philippines as well as Asean intra-trade relations,” said Farry.
Farry said that in terms of trade, the Philippines and Indonesia trade increased to over US$7 billion last year from $4 billion in 2015. Based on the records of the Indonesian Consulate, Philippine imports from Indonesia grew by 37.86 percent to $6.35 billion in 2017 from $4.61 billion in 2016.
The consulate is also organizing the Indonesia-Philippines Business Networking Session at the Marco Polo Davao on November 22 with round 20 Indonesian manufacturing companies expected to participate and look for mutual business cooperation with Davao and Mindanao based-business circles.
Meanwhile, Farry also added that despite the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao, the Indonesia consulate still promotes bilateral trade relations to promote products in both countries.
Farry said that both Indonesia and the Philippines have undertaken major efforts to strengthen their trade relations citing as an example the establishment of the RoRo sea and port connectivity between Davao and General Santos and Bitung in Indonesia.
Another is the interest of small traders from Indonesia in at least four provinces to participate in ancient border trading in Mindanao. These are North Sulawesi, East Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and East Kalimantan- all located at the borders of Indonesia.
Farry also added that despite the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao, the Indonesian consulate still promotes bilateral trade relations to promote products from both countries.
She added that martial law may have an effect on foreign investments but the consulate assured Indonesian investors that they will remain safe especially in Mindanao. (davaotoday.com)
