SEIPI Partners with PH Gov to Promote Electronics Industry in France
PARIS 29 October 2018 — The Semiconductor & Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (SEIPI), in partnership with the Philippine Embassy in Paris, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) - Export Marketing Bureau/Philippine Trade and Investment Center, will spearhead the first-ever Philippine electronics business mission to France on 23-27 October 2018.
The mission aims to directly promote the capabilities of the Philippine electronics sector to foreign partners through proactive business engagements with French companies, and to establish partnerships with French industry organizations such as the Angers French Tech (AFT) and the Alliance Electronique (ACSIEL).
The business mission is part of an ongoing collaboration between the government and the private sector towards export development, and overseas promotion of Philippine electronic products and services. This is aligned with the electronics industry’s roadmap called the Product and Technology Holistic Strategy (PATHS), which identifies niche products and technologies that the Philippines should be focusing on in the next five years.
The first leg of the October mission is a response to Philippine Ambassador to Paris Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro’s invitation for SEIPI to conduct an electronics industry mission in Paris and meet with the members of ACSIEL, a major French electronics industry association, to facilitate technology exchange, business-to-business (BTB) meetings and explore investment opportunities.
The second leg of the mission is the sealing of a partnership between SEIPI and Angers French Tech (AFT). AFT is the local government's thematic entity of the national French Tech initiative, which is a government program for French start-ups including investors, entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, designers, developers, corporations, associations, government agencies and research institutes – encompassing all industries but advocating digital technology, called La French Tech.
The prelude to this partnership was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SEIPI and the AFT in DTI International - Manila on 11 June 2018, to formalize their plans to set up a French Pavilion in the Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Convention and Exhibition (PSECE) in 2019.
This time, both SEIPI and AFT will commit to a mutual promotion of events and placing an office for SEIPI in France on 26 October 2018.
The MOU with AFT is one of the strategies of SEIPI to capture a bigger share in the Internet of Things (IOT) since France is one of the the Philippines’ fastest growing exports market among the country’s trading partners.
Philippine exports to France remained strong with January to July 2018 figures showing a growth of 45.70 percent, the highest growth rate among the top 20 export markets of the Philippines.
Ambassador Lazaro added that "the promotion of the Philippines as a partner of French companies in the era of IOT, big data and artificial intelligence has been a strategic objective of Post" with a previously arranged familiarization mission to the Philippines arranged by the Embassy in 2017.
Prior to the MOU Signing, there will be a meeting with Senator Emmanuel Capus and French Minister at the Paris Parliament Office, Mayor Christophe Bechu at the Angers City Hall, business matching meetings with ACSIEL organized by the Philippine Embassy in France, and business matching meetings, plant visits and university meetings in Angers, hosted by Angers French Tech (AFT).
The mission is composed of delegates from the following SEIPI member-companies— AirFreight 2100, Fastech Advanced Technologies, First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities, Integrated Microelectronics, Inc., Qualitek Delta—SEIPI, DOST-Adavanced Science & Technology Institute, and DTI-Export Marketing Bureau and SEIPI.
The electronics industry remains as the country’s top exporter. In 2017, Philippine electronics exports posted a double digit growth of 11.16 percent at US$ 32.7 billion, the highest in the industry's history. From January to August 2018, electronics exports reached US$ 23.6 billion. In 2018, a 6 percent growth rate is projected.
France, meanwhile, ranked as the country’s 14th market in 2017 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 24 percent from 2013-2017 valued at US$374.8 million.
For more information, visit www.parispe.dfa.gov.ph or http://www.facebook.com/PHinFrance / https://twitter.com/PHinFrance