Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>>Anthony Weymouth: On the 1st of January 2010 the Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN
countries and Australia, and New Zealand, since that time two way trade between Australia
and the Philippines has increased to be now valued at 3 billion dollars per annum. Australia
has seen significant gains in food and beverage products, as well as, particularly in the
services sector.
There are opportunities for Australian companies in the food and beverage sector in the Philippines
as a direct result of the Free Trade Agreement; 97% of Australian goods --- products and services
that come into the Philippines now are in fact duty free. Key sectors where we are seeing
opportunities include dairy, beef and lamb, and just recently fresh produce. I’m pleased
to say that the Philippines government and the Australian government have agreed on new
protocols that will enable the treatment of Australian produce in transit on its way to
the Philippines. We see this as a new opportunity and look forward to working with Australian
companies to capture that opportunity.
The Philippines government has placed a lot of emphasis on public private partnerships
(PPPs). In fact, there’s currently 17 projects in the pipeline.
For the last 20 or 30 years the government and the private sector has not invested in
infrastructure. This is across a wide range of infrastructure requirements, including
energy, ports, airports, road and rail. Austrade is well placed to help Australia companies
reduce the risk of entering the Philippines market.