On 20 September, the APBC and Philippine Consulate General Melbourne hosted a networking event at the Philippine Consulate General office. More than 60 participants attended the event.
Keynote speakers included Consul General Maria Lourdes Salcedo and APBC President Rafael Toda provided the economic trends and updates from the Philippines and alignment with Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, noting the recent visit of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Manila on 8 September 2023.
APBC Director and Vice President for Victoria, Janeca Gross, emceed and introduced keynote speakers and esteemed guests present at the event.
Consul General Maria Lourdes Salcedo presented the Philippines key economic indicators showing strong and positive growth with real gross domestic product (GDP) forecast at 7 per cent year-on-year in 2023 and 8 per cent in 2024. She also presented the annual growth rate of top commodity categories of Philippine exports including coconut oil (110 per cent), manufactured goods (54 per cent), cathodes and sections of cathodes (46 per cent), electronic products (8 per cent) and electronic equipment and parts (6 per cent).
Consul General Salcedo also mentioned that Australian Prime Minister Albanese’s recent visit to the Philippines has provided stronger bilateral relations that will enable increased trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.
Mr Toda spoke about the impacts of bilateral relations during Prime Minister Albanese’s visit to the Philippines in September announcing a new Strategic Partnership. This partnership forms a solid framework for deeper economic engagement, enabling streamlined trade and investment.
It also signals the expansion of cooperation and will add defence and maritime matters, strengthen counter-terrorism and law enforcement, and facilitate deeper cooperation in a range of areas including climate action, education, development, and people-to-people exchanges.
In addition to the Strategic Partnership, other outcomes from The Prime Minister’s visit included MOUs on Work and Holiday Visa Arrangements and another on National Soil Health Strategy aimed at improving soil and land management strategies.
The APBC has been actively engaging with businesses, institutions, government and industries to align with strategic projects particularly in biosecurity as evidenced by the MOU signed with the Philippine Department of Science and Technology and Murdoch University in June 2023.
A number of achievements in Australia’s partnership with the Philippines includes the state-of-the-art and expansion of the Victorian International Container Terminal in Port Melbourne with a projected increase in value of $6B AUD and the Philippine Airlines increase to 21 non-stop or direct flights to the Philippines.
Major industries including Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) increased hiring of Filipino workforce at 220,000, mining through BHP’s partnership with OceanaGold in the Philippine mining industry, and cybersecurity with Telstra’s launch of ‘Cybersecurity in Asia’ with office in the Philippines were also mentioned.
Key infrastructure developments in the Philippines will enable business expansions in other areas in the Philippines including the proposed 147 km rail line that will accommodate up to 800K passengers per day and the New Clark City development.
Mr Toda also mentioned Australia’s labour gap in the aged care sector and clean energy which can be addressed through policy change and partnerships with the government and businesses.
Guest speakers include Ms Jennifer Julio, business development manager at Philippine Airlines and Mr Antonilo Mauricio from the Philippine National Development Company. Mr Mauricio visited Melbourne for the first time and attended the Global Entrepreneurship Network held in Melbourne this year.
If you would like to know more about the Australia Philippines Business Council, please visit: https://apbc.org.au/about/. If you have any questions about upcoming events and membership, please email secretariat@apbc.org.au.
