FOR far too long we have concentrated on the United States and Japan for the destinations of our exports and the sources of our imports, to the neglect of other countries, including ones with whom we have deep and common historical experience. This is a mistake which, happily, now seems to be on the way to being corrected.
In a recent interview with a local daily (not the BusinessMirror), the Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines, Luis Calvo, highlighted prospects for cooperation between the Philippines and Spain. The Ambassador said that “the Philippines is the only priority country in Asia within the Master Plan for Spanish Cooperation in 2013-2016.”
The Ambassador envisioned Spain as contributing to the building of facilities and structures necessary to the realization of the Philippines’s tourism goals, including tourist accommodations like hotels, and infrastructure like transport and communication facilities. These will be investments distinct from the E25 million the Spanish Government has given us in the form of grants in the 2012-2014 period.
Earlier, the Chilean Ambassador to the Philippines, Roberto Mayorga, stated that Chile is keen on forging a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Philippines, to enable the two countries to maximize their benefits from trade. Our own Department of Trade and Industry confirmed that a Chilean Mission is arriving in Manila in March to begin informal talks on the topic. This will be followed by a reciprocal visit to Chile by a Philippine delegation that will extend its travel to Peru, Brazil, and Mexico.
Mexico’s readiness to expand trade relations with the Philippines has already been expounded by the Mexican Ambassador, Julio Camarena (see BusinessMirror of December 17, 2014). In addition, we now have prospects of renewed economic and diplomatic interaction with Cuba, given that diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana have just been restored, even if only partially.
The facts on the ground (2013) suggest bright prospects for the emerging relationships.
Spain Mexico Philippines
Population (in million persons) 47.2 122.3 98.4
Gross Domestic Product (in billion US dollars) 1,393.0 1,261.0 272.0
GDP per capita (in US dollars) 29,920 10,310 2,764
Total exports (in million US dollars) 310,964 380,189 56,698
Total imports (in million US dollars) 332,267 90,965 65,097
Total trade per capita (in US dollars) 14,000 6,451 1,440
We had difficulty finding data on trade for Chile but in 2013, Chile had a GDP of $297 billion and a population of 17.8 million. Its per capita income stood at $16,600.
As can be seen, we are talking here of interacting with prosperous high income and high middle income countries. We are the least developed among the prospective members, with Spain understandably the most industrialized. As such we stand to benefit the most from any form of cooperation among the countries.
We extend our unequivocal support to the emerging relationships. To facilitate the process of cooperation we should now speed up our study of the product and service complementarities between us and the countries concerned. Obviously, products and services that have broad and deep complementarities with the other countries’ products and services are the ones to be given priorities in our foreign trade development program.
With respect to tourism, we should get ready to pinpoint where in the hotel, resort, and infrastructure building program Spanish investments can go.
Let’s begin implementing widened and cordial trade relations with old friends, Spain and Latin American countries, as soon as feasible.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano