Philippines, China eye intensified trade, financial ties

The Philippine and Chinese governments would like to “revitalise” cooperation in five key areas – agricultural trade, bilateral financial cooperation through currency swaps, customs, project financing and tourism – the DOF said in a statement on Monday.
In a courtesy call to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III last week, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua also offered Beijing’s support to the priority projects of the Duterte administration in the form of official development assistance for pipeline projects of the departments of Public Works and Highways, Transportation and Agriculture, the DOF said.
In response, Dominguez expressed his appreciation for the ambassador’s offer, the DOF said.
Finance Undersecretary Maria Tan said the Chinese officials who met with Dominguez “strongly recognised the DOF’s role” in project financing and were “looking forward to participate in opportunities to support the administration’s agenda such as infrastructure projects”.
In relation to the Duterte administration’s aim to ramp up infrastructure spending, Chinese officials urged the DOF to fast-track work on the Philippines’ membership in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
“The Chinese ambassador expressed appreciation that the Philippines is taking steps to complete procedures in its membership with the AIIB.
“The ambassador reiterated the need to complete all steps for full membership in the AIIB so the Philippines can access project financing to support its infrastructure requirements,” Tan said.
The Philippines’ AIIB membership has been pending Senate ratification.The DOF and Chinese officials agreed to revisit the current currency swap arrangement to manage foreign exchange risks.
For project financing, the two sides would explore cooperation in the education, information technology, infrastructure, ports, power, technology and tourism sectors.
For agriculture, both sides exchanged views on growth potential and shared opportunities where the countries can gain mutual benefits, such as the export of Chinese-made agricultural equipment appropriate to the Philippine setting and the expansion of Philippine exports to China.
Examples of such exports are tropical fruits like bananas, coconuts and pineapples and high-end marine and fishery products such as lapu-lapu (grouper), bangus, tuna, crabs and shrimp.
The DOF and Chinese officials want intensified cross-border cooperation through customs, specifically by addressing reported trade gaps, improving the exchange of import and export data, among others.