SPAIN - PHILIPPINES INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COOPERATION FORUM

The Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Manila, on behalf of the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), in collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the Philippines and its Board of Investments (BOI), is organizing the SPAIN-PHILIPPINES INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COOPERATION FORUM. The event will be held in Makati City, Metro Manila, on March 30th and 31st of 2011.


The official opening ceremony on the 30th of March will be presided, on the Spanish side, by Mr. Alfredo BONET, Secretary of State for Foreign Trade and President of the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) and by the new Spanish Ambassador in Philippines, Mr. Jorge DOMECQ. On the local side, the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs will represent the Philippines government.
ICEX only organizes 4 or 5 Investment and Business Cooperation Forums every year. The countries are selected on the basis of the demands of the Spanish companies and tend to be highly dynamic places with great potential.

In this regard, the Philippines is a promising market and investment destination, having reached a 7,3% GDP growth in 2010, starting to develop a broad strategy to upgrade its infrastructure with public-private partnerships (PPP) and offering many opportunities for business collaborations.

On the other side, Spanish companies are among the world leaders in infrastructure, renewable energy, environmental services, information technology, fashion and food.

The Forum aims to strengthen the bilateral economic relationship with regard to investment. Trade figures have been growing during recent years, with the Spanish exports to the Philippines reaching 167 million euro in 2010, a 16-year record high. The natural consequence of a continuous increase in trade will be new investments. The business environment is improving in the Philippines and the Spanish companies can play a major role in it.

Knowing that investment abroad is a required and natural step within the globalization process, with this event, ICEX wants to offer new investment and partnership opportunities to both the Filipino companies and the Spanish companies with a strong interest in the Philippines. In this sense, this Forum is not a promotional event but a platform where Filipino and Spanish companies can get in touch, analyse their abilities and design a common business strategy.

The Spanish companies participating in the Forum have been selected by ICEX due to their commitment and interesting investment plans in the Philippines. Only 60% of applications were accepted. For the potential Filipino counterparts, it means that they have the opportunity to meet highly reputed companies ready to offer expertise, technology and capital and start joint ventures, investments in new companies, technology transfer/subcontracting/franchising agreements, etc.

The organization of these Forums is the most important instrument that ICEX offers to the Spanish companies to promote investments abroad and, according to the results achieved, it is a completely successful programme for both Spanish and local companies. The report carried out by ICEX about the Forums held during 2009 showed that 27% of the Spanish participating companies had completed their investment project within a year and an additional 29% expected to do so in a short period of time.

In this forum, 22 SPANISH COMPANIES are looking for investment opportunities and potential local partners to develop projects in the following sectors:
Automotive Industry
• Services of consultancy on automotive standards, engineering and testing and homologation to vehicle manufacturers and Government bodies.
• Transfer of technology and collaboration in the assembly of fire fighting vehicles for airports.
Construction and Engineering
• Advanced technology refrigeration systems for power plants.
• Participation in civil construction public and private tenders, including PPP projects.
• Water infrastructure projects in all the water cycle.
• Participation with local partners in railway projects where delivery and maintenance of passenger rolling stock is requested.
• Solutions to agro-industries, food-related facilities, water related projects, modern storage facilities for food and cereals, bio-energies, renewable energies. .
• Renting of construction machinery.
• Projects to get energetic profit from the gases generated by waste, water and biomass treatment
• Transport infrastructure, especially railways and roads; and environment (water, wastewater and other waste).
• PPP projects in airports, rail and traffic management.
• Electrification and substations, medium generation, water and urban waste treatment; and renewable energy.
• Financial services for projects involving foreign trade and investment.
• Energy sector in general.
• Technical consulting in health, transport, water and environment PPP projects.
Fashion Retail
• Franchising by a premium designer.
• Franchising by the world’s leading company of bridal dresses, cocktail dresses and accessories for brides.
Food Service
• Joint venture in the fast food business.
Information and Communication Technologies
• IT solutions, services and products in aeronautics, banking and finances, space, defence, health, security, transportation, telecommunications, and information technology for public administration and large corporations.
• Development of WI-FI public or private areas .
• Digital television and pay-per-view (PPV) systems.

Technological Services
• Technology transfer, collaboration and research in the fish, fruit and vegetable sectors

During the two days of duration of the Forum these Spanish companies will have one-on-one meetings with selected Filipino counterparts. Any local company interested in participating in the event should fill the registration form and send it, as soon as possible to the following address: manilaforum@comercio.mityc.es. Final participation is not assured, as a selection will be made taking into account the profiles and the interests of both Spanish and Filipino companies.

The registration form and further details of the Forum are available on the website: www.spainbusiness.com/manilaforum.

ANNEX

• What is the role of the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX)?

The Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade is the agency in the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce of Spain with the mission of helping Spanish companies internationalize their operations as a way of becoming more competitive and adding value to the economy as a whole. In this sense, its main aim can be summarized in one single concept: the GLOBALIZATION of the Spanish Enterprises. To reach this goal, ICEX offers a great variety of services (information, advice, training, etc) to the Spanish companies to guide them since their first steps abroad through exports agreements till the consolidation of set up operations and investments all over the world.

• What is the role of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of Spain in Manila?

The Economic and Commercial Office is the section of the Embassy of Spain in charge of trade and commercial relations and offers, among others, the following services to the Spanish companies: general market research and promotion services, organization of promotion activities like the ones developed by ICEX as fairs and trade shows, trade missions, publicity campaigns, etc., information about markets and opportunities, preparation of market studies, information about international tenders, guidance and assistance in organizing international meetings like bilateral committees or Chambers assemblies, information about exporting companies to local importers, orientation to local investors in Spain and Spanish investors in the country, information and following up of multilateral projects financed by international institutions and assistance to the Spanish companies in their relationships with them.

• What is the role of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Board of Investments?

They are the official local counterparts of ICEX in the organization of the event. Representatives from the department will participate in the forum. The DTI and the BOI are also helping by providing local contacts and information.