BRITISH trade and investment minister Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham, will lead a business delegation to the Philippines in October this year to further explore emerging commercial opportunities in the country, according to  Meg Munn, MP, British foreign minister for Southeast Asia.

She announced the visit of the British trade official as she concluded her two-day trip to the country, a part of efforts to strengthen ties with the Philippines.

British Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham said Lord Jones will be joined by a business delegation composed of four to five investors.

“We want to open the Philippine economy to more investments from Europe. The trade minister is arriving in October, he may come with a trade delegation of investors,” said Beckingham in an interview over the weekend at the launch of Amanah Islamic Leadership program at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

Digby is expected to meet with Trade Secretary Peter Favila and with representatives of financial services and retail sectors in the country.

Trade volume between the Philippines and Britain reached $850 million in 2007 and direct investments a total of $446.5 million. Around 200,000 Filipino nurses working in the UK are a top source of remittances for the Philippines.

Data at the British Embassy show that Britain is at the 15th position in terms of share of exports to the Philippines after Japan, the US, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Germany, and the Philippines’s neighboring nations.

Among the top British exports to the Philippines are electrical apparatus/appliances and spares, medical and pharmaceutical products, manufactured metals, office and ADP machinery.

British imports from the Philippines include electrical and office equipment and machinery, apparel, miscellaneous manufactured material, road vehicles, fish products, textile fibers, and yarn.

Top British investments in the country are concentrated in power, energy, water and financial services. Among the British multinational companies present in the Philippines are Shell, HSBC,BG, Standard Chartered Misys.

British retail franchising firms in the Philippines include Debenhams, Marks and Spencers, Wallis, Clarks Shoes, Top Shop, Burberry, Tower Records, and Lush.

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BRITISH trade and investment minister Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham, will lead a business delegation to the Philippines in October this year to further explore emerging commercial opportunities in the country, according to  Meg Munn, MP, British foreign minister for Southeast Asia.

REGIONAL science high schools (RSHSs) will get an additional P1-million subsidy and an allocation of P2,000 per student to augment their maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), the Department of Education (DepEd) announced.