Philippine delegation of companies in food, pharmaceutical, and personal care products successfully concluded a business mission from 9 to 25 of February to the Middle East through the assistance of the Department of Trade and Industry – Export Management Bureau (DTI-EMB).
Among the countries that are part of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) that the business mission visited are Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA-Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam), Bahrain and UAE. The mission aims to fully penetrate the Middle East market.
“The round of business matching activities conducted with the assistance of our Philippine Embassies in Kuwait, KSA, Bahrain and UAE together with the Philippine Trade & Investment Center in Dubai working closely with the full support of the major chambers of commerce in the Middle East has allowed us to conduct this business mission successfully with booked and potential sales amounting to USD49.1 Million as gathered from initial results of the evaluation reports from the participating PH companies,” said EMB Director Senen M. Perlada.
Among the companies in the said business mission are Fresh Consumer Trade and Logistics, Magic Melt Foods Inc., Market Reach International, Monde Nu Agri Corporation, Philippine Grocers Food Inc., Pixcel Transglobal Inc., Profood International, Psalmstre Enterprises Inc., Willion International Trading and United Laboratories Inc.
One of the key priorities of DTI included in the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) is to identify and develop export capabilities in products where global market demand is fast growing. With the increase in the consumption of PHL products in Middle East, this business mission among GCC member countries is an opportunity for the country to put forward our goal to achieve our stretch target of 8-9% this year.
“This is where our Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) strategy transcends into reality. We will work together with relevant stakeholders to boost our efforts of becoming major players in the Middle East market,” said Perlada.
Also part of the action plan is the assessment of available remedies to determine sustainable solutions to common trade barriers which include rejection of cargo containers due to mislabeling and parallel shipments.
“With the new rules being observed in the Middle East market, this calls for a deliberate approach and we will work closely together with the private sector, major associations and other government agencies such as the DA, FDA, PTTC, CITEM and FTSC to further our objectives” added Perlada.
The PEDP has recently been signed by Pres. Benigno C. Aquino IlI through Memorandum Circular No. 91 which employs DTI to carry out strategies based on empirical studies that identify key priorities and emerging products from the Philippines with high growth potentials for export to various markets around the world.
For more information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph
