Consulate hopes for more trade visits to Philippines

Lilybeth Deapera (right)

Forty-three delegates from the Macau ASEAN International Chamber of Commerce recently visited the Philippines for a seminar on trade and investment, held at the Hyatt City of Dreams Manila.

The delegation met with the country’s Department of Trade and Industry, and attended presentations about investment opportunities in the Philippines.

Philippine Consul General in Macau, Lilybeth Deapera, suggested that the growing relationship between the Philippines and China led to this visit, recalling that president Rodrigo Duterte had visited China in October 2016.

“As early as July last year, I’ve spoken with officers of MAICC saying that they were thinking of going to the Philippines either at the end of the first quarter or in the first half of 2017,” she said.

“I think [one of the factors] that pushed the trade visit was president Duterte’s visit to China,” she added.

Members attending the trade visit were delegates from Macau, Hong Kong and China. The delegation represented different sectors, such as real estate and property, tourism and hospitality and maritime transport services and logistics.

The networking session was followed by a business matching session attended by more than 50 companies from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCI), and Manila WTC Club. 

The five-day event in May included trade visits to both Manila and Cebu City.

“We [also] went to Cebu and some of them are interested in furniture [so] we visited a renowned furniture designer’s shop,” she said.

Although Deapera did not know of the deals that were signed during the event (as it was only exploratory for the delegates), she hoped that similar trips would be arranged in the future.

“I don’t know if they were followed through after their meeting. […] I hope there will be results after this initial meeting between them.”

Meanwhile, when questioned about updates on the government-run shelters for its domestic workers, Deapera said they have yet to receive an update from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

“It’s not a simple thing. DOLE has to learn about the situation and then budget a plan.  It’s a long process [and] we haven’t received feedback on the status.

Last year Filipino migrant group Migrante-Macau highlighted the need for government-run shelters as a means to provide support to migrant workers who experience premature termination.