By Veronica Uy
2023 is turning out to be an “exciting” year for trade and investments between the United Kingdom and the Philippines, UK Ambassador to the Philippines Laures Beaufils said at THEPHILBIZNEWS Embassy Night in Hotel Okura Manila recently.
The UK Ambassador said she sees more trade and investments between the two countries in the areas of disaster preparedness; climate and environment renewable energy, particularly offshore wind technology; cyber, both in commercial and policy perspectives; and maritime security.
“We have London Tech week coming up. We’ve got quite a few Filipino firms that will be going in there that week of the 12th of June,” Ambassador Beaufils said.
The top British diplomat in the country said that just this January, global firm Diageo put in “massive investments” into Philippines’ Don Papa rum, and British automotive distributor Inchcape PLC finalized a joint venture with CATS Group of Companies, the leading distributor of luxury vehicles in the Philippines.
“That sets the tone for this year. I think it’s going to be a really exciting year between our two countries,” she said.
Ambassador Beaufils also said that earlier this year, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno led a delegation to London to give an economic briefing to investors in the UK and raised awareness about the opportunities in the Philippines.
“There was a lot of interest amongst those investors. And indeed the delegation went to the London Stock Exchange group, spent some time there…There’s a lot of the work that was set out over that week in London that we’re now following up on here,” she said.
UK Prime Minister’s trade envoy to the Philippines and ASEAN Ambassador Richard Graham was also at the Embassy Night.
Ambassador Beaufils said Ambassador Graham’s presence in the Philippines “is a testament to our ambition for our trade between the Philippines and the UK.”
“As you can tell we’re ambitious, dynamic, and hungry for increased trade between our two countries and we expect there to be a lot happening over the course of the year…To complement the trade and the business side, we’ve done a lot as an embassy to really engage with the new administration, listen to the administration’s priorities, and really lean in and respond to some of the needs that have been identified,” she said.
The 2nd Embassy Night of THEPHILBIZNEWS was held at the Hotel Okura Manila last April 26. Aside from Ambassador Beaufils, other speakers were Ambassadors Anke Reiffenstuel of Germany, Jana Sediva of the Czech Republic, Michel Parys of Belgium, Ilan Fluss of Israel, and Honorary Consul of Ukraine Dr. Beatrice Jane Ang also attended the gala.