15 August 2014 - Officials of the European-ASEAN Business Alliance (EABA) Singapore called on Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Antonio A. Morales at the Philippine chancery on August 12. Ambassador Morales was accompanied by Commercial Counsellor Glenn Peñaranda and Consul Jay Anthony Reyes in receiving the guests.

EABA is composed of 15 European multinational companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Shell, Royal Philips, Syngenta Asia-Pacific, UBS AG, Rabobank International, Heinekin Asia-Pacific, Rolls-Royce, Holcim, among others. A number of EABA’s members have operations in the Philippines.

During the call, the officials informed Ambassador Morales that EABA members are noting with interest the strengthening of the Philippine’s economy. They acknowledged that the streamlined and standardized “Business One Stop Shop” of the Department of Trade and Industry has helped ease doing business in the country.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were taken up and the EABA officials said that European companies are assessing the two regimes’ comparative benefits. Developments in ASEAN particularly the Asean Economic Community (AEC) 2015 were also discussed.

Views on developments in the South China Sea and the labour situation in Singapore were also exchanged during the call.

Ambassador Morales invited the EABA officials to consider investing in the Philippines and thanked them for their interest in helping facilitate meetings between officials and representatives of EABA member companies during ASEAN and regional meetings in Singapore. END