By Monsi A. Serrano
Amidst the pandemic, the Philippines’ ASEAN neighbors were able to capture the opportunities in bringing in more foreign investors to their counties and that they pulled through because they were prepared to welcome them with their friendlier and less restrictive economic provision.
For his part, British Chamber of Commerce Executive Director & Trustee Chris Nelson revealed that in the past years, the British Chamber has been very active urging the government to work on the economic reforms which the group deems as necessary to open the gate and welcome the bearers of capital inflow throw foreign direct investments.
Speaking to THEPHILBIZNEWS, BCCP Director & Trustee Chris Nelson revealed, “Heading to almost two years now battling with the pandemic, we at the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines have been working hard in retaining our existing members and successfully grew our network even more. The Chamber also actively supported its members to overcome the challenges of the ongoing pandemic through securing vaccines and travel assistance.”
“We also embrace the Bayanihan Spirit and continue what we have been doing in the past years through various business education programs and activities to would spur inspiration and hope to all our members and partners,” Nelson added.
“For 2021, the Chamber has hosted over 350 webinars geared towards strengthening partnerships with its members and other business groups. Through the Overseas Partner Deliver Programme, the Chamber received over 160 inquiries from UK SMEs interested in searching for business opportunities available in the Philippines in key sectors such as retail, food and beverage, manufacturing, and advanced machineries, and we will continue to create more collaborations with other business groups and government agencies,” he said.
“Apart from that, the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines has supported GoNegosyo’s initiatives to allow businesses to operate at the safest capacity, accelerated vaccination rollout, streamlining quarantine procedures for both local and international travel. Also, we tackled the liberalization of the economy through the passage of key economic reforms which we and other foreign chambers believe would really be a key to a faster economic recovery that the Philippines needs now since our economy has started to open up and looking forward to a better 2022.
“May I underscore that the Philippines’ economic growth in 2021 had been robust, leaving the last quarter with optimistic outlooks for the next year. To sustain this growth, it is crucial and urgent to get the approval of amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalisation Act, Foreign Investment Act and Public Service Act, to cope up with our ASEAN neighbors and be able to get high-value foreign direct investments and generate more jobs. Not just stop gap jobs, but jobs that provide security to everyone’s future so that Filipinos can stay at home and be with their families,” Nelson explained.
Nelson said that the chamber looks forward to a better 2022 and expressed Chamber’s confidence in the economic growth which will be sustained back by a stable and improved healthcare system, vaccination rollout and approval of economic reform bills.
Lastly, Nelson looks forward to the possibility of returning to physical events soon and meeting our members in person. He expressed his profound gratitude to the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines’ members, partners, and the media for their continued support throughout this year.
