13 November 2014 – As part of its 5th European Roadshow, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Lilia de Lima participated in business roundtables in Hamburg and Stuttgart from November 03 to 04.
While in Hamburg, Dr. de Lima delivered the keynote presentation at a seminar organized by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) and the German Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV). Director General de Lima explained PEZA’s mandate and investment incentives, the Philippine Embassy provided a macroeconomic situationer on the Philippine economy, while PWC provided a briefing on investment and taxation law in the Philippines.
Director General de Lima explained that PEZA was in a “kinetic mode” and emphasized that her organization provides 24 by 7 (24 x 7) service to all PEZA locators. She highlighted to the business representatives that the Philippines has a young, dynamic, and highly trainable population, with the economy benefiting from a demographic dividend that is translating into a million people entering the work force every year. The Philippines enjoys industrial peace, a high comparative retention rate for employees, and requires shorter training periods for knowledge transfer. As a result of the high level of PEZA service and factor endowments, she noted that 50% of new PEZA investments came from existing locators.
Director General de Lima also had a meeting with the Hamburg Business Development Corporation (HWF), including resource persons from its Maritime and Aviation clusters. Dr. Franz Josef Kirschfink, Managing Director of Hamburg Aviation Services, explained that Hamburg is the 3rd largest aviation hub in the world after Seattle and Toulouse and the Hamburg metropolitan area currently employs 40,000 people in this sector. The largest employers are Airbus, Lufthansa Technik and Hamburg Airport, which are supported by more than 300 aerospace suppliers, service providers and educational and research institutions. While the initial focus of the Hamburg aviation industry was on the production of the A320 and A380 models, the industry has matured to now cover the whole aviation life cycle chain. The Nord Deutschland (Northern Germany) Maritime Cluster was launched in 2011 and is funded by the regional governments of Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein, local Chambers of Commerce and member companies. The Maritime Cluster now includes 200 companies covering key segments in each region, including: shipping and port management (Hamburg), shipbuilding, shipping and offshore wind (Lower Saxony), and shipbuilding and deep sea technology (Schleswig Holstein).
For her part, Director General de Lima noted that the Philippines has growing and globally competitive maritime and aviation industries. She noted that the Philippines is now the 4th largest shipbuilder in the world in gross tonnage while Lufthansa Technik is expanding operations and B/E Aerospace is producing kitchen galleys for Airbus. Both sides agreed to the further exchange of information with HWF’s maritime and aviation clusters and Director General de Lima invited invited HWF and its member companies to visit the Philippines in 2015.
In the evening, Director General de Lima briefed the Filipino community at the Hamburg office of i-Remit on the strengths of the Philippine economy and the efforts of PEZA to promote and attract foreign and domestic investors to the Philippines.
The Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) organized an information session on the Philippines at the sidelines of the Global Connect Trade Fair in Stuttgart on November 04. The LBBW Group consists of three commercial banks: Baden-Württembergische Bank (BW-Bank), Rheinland-Pfalz Bank and Sachsen Bank and acts as the central bank for the community savings banks in Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Palatinate and Saxony.
Director General de Lima’s core messages resonated well with representatives from German small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including those in the automotive and renewable energy sectors, while Mr. Dan Braun of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) delivered a presentation on the European-Philippines Business Network (EPBN) project. The session closed with Ms. Fernandez-Valentin, LBBW’s Manager for Banks in Asia Pacific, who provided a detailed presentation on trade financing opportunities for German and Filipino (SMEs) while highlighting that LBBW has existing partnership arrangements with the major Filipino commercial banks.
The German legs of the 5th PEZA Roadshow were organized by the Philippine Trade Investment Center (PTIC) in Berlin. Director General de Lima was assisted during her visit by Philippine Embassy Chargé d’affaires, a.i. Mardomel Melicor, Second Secretary Gabriel Bautista, and Ms. Maria Lourdes Tana, Trade Assistant of the PTIC Berlin. END