Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario with Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Grzegorz
Schetyna before their bilateral meeting at the MFA Palace in Warsaw
06 December 2014 - Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario firmed up the visit of a Polish Business Mission to Manila in March next year to boost trade and investment relations between the Philippines and Poland during his meeting with Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Grzegorz Schetyna on December 05 in the capital city of Warsaw.
Secretary del Rosario said that this is the most opportune time to intensify trade and investment relations in view of the economic resiliency of the two countries despite the global financial crisis and the eurozone crisis. For his part, Foreign MinisterSchetyna stressed the imperative of closer cooperation between the Philippines and Poland and added that there is a need to find additional markets, beyond Europe, for Polish goods and services.
Secretary Del Rosario invited Foreign Minister Schetyna to visit Manila to sustain the recent exchange of high level-official visits between the two countries and proposed the establishment of a Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) to expand bilateral relations. Foreign Minister Schetyna was a member of the Poland-Philippines Parliamentary Group in Poland’s Sejm (Parliament) when he was chair of the Sejm’s House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Expressing his thanks for the solidarity of the Polish government and people, especially by President Bronislaw Komorowski, when the Philippines was devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, Secretary Del Rosario noted that “during our time of despair, Poland sent us the message that we were not alone.”
He also conveyed the Philippine government’s appreciation for Poland’s ratification of the European Union (EU)-Philippines Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), the 17th country to have done so among the EU’s 28 member-countries. The Secretary likewise congratulated Poland on the appointment of its former Prime Minister Donald Tusk as President of the EU Council.
In the area of defense, the Polish side offered military education and training for Philippine military officers since all courses are conducted in English. It also drew attention to a wide array of high quality military hardware which Poland produces and that the Philippines can avail itself of in line with its defense requirements. Furthermore, the Polish side offered credit and financing for their procurement, as well as technology transfers.
On the education front, the two officials shared the view about the need to improve people-to-people links through educational exchanges, with Secretary Del Rosario focusing on the field of science and technology.
The Secretary informed his counterpart that the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw has been conducting a combined cultural, tourism, trade and investment “roadshow” in Poland’s 10 biggest cities and has already completed seven. The roadshow aims is to bridge the information gap and develop the existing potentials of the bilateral ties in all fronts to the fullest.
To underscore that this is the most opportune time to intensity bilateral interactions, Secretary Del Rosario cited the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (EOCD) 2014 Outlook which reported that the Philippines is the fastest growing economy in Asia. He added that the Philippines was the “biggest overall riser” in terms of improving the dynamism of its business environment among 60 of the world’s largest economies.The Philippines now ranks 21st - rising by 25 notches - from its previous year’s 46th rank, according to Grant Thornton’s 2013 Global Dynamism Index. Secretary Del Rosario stressed that these indicate the positive gains of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s dictum that “good governance is good economics.” In view of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, he further said that the Philippines can serve as Poland’s platform to access the combined ASEAN market with a consumer base of 608 million people.
The Polish Business Mission is being organized by the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw in partnership with the Polish Chamber of Commerce, the Philippine Export Processing Zone Authority (PEZA), and the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Trade figures from the Central Statistical Office of Poland show that last year’s total trade volume amounted to US$ 203.1 million with the balance of trade in the Philippines’ favor.
In the field of tourism, figures from the Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT) showed a 27.4% increase in Polish tourist arrivals in the Philippines for the first quarter of 2014 alone, up from 2, 201 last year to 2,744 arrivals for the same period this year. The DOT has noted that this trend could surpass last year’s total tourist arrivals of 5,653. The Philippines participated in Warsaw’s biggest travel trade event called Targi Turystyczne (TT Warsaw) last November 27 to 29 through a collaboration among the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw, the DOT’s Tourism Attaché in Berlin, DOT-Manila, and the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB). END
