11 November 2015 - The Philippine Embassy in Warsaw conducted a trade, investment, tourism, and cultural promotion campaign before a Polish organization called Wiara w Biznesie (“Faith in Business”) on November 05 upon the invitation of its president, Tomasz Sztreker.
Philippine Ambassador to Poland Patricia Ann V. Paez presented some “fast facts” about the country as well as an overview of Philippines-Poland relations. She also shared with the audience a brief profile of the bilateral trade relations and a comparison of the indices of economic dynamism between the Philippines and Poland, specifically their respective rankings in several economic ranking agencies/organizations, such as World Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, among others.
Moreover, the Embassy focused on the Philippines’ key export sectors, namely: IT-BPO and other services; electronics; agribusiness (food and other resource-based products); minerals; transport (shipbuilding); motor vehicle parts; garments/textiles; homestyle (furniture/decors/giftwares; and wearables (fashion accessories/bags/shoes/jewelry.
The Embassy highlighted the advantages of locating production facilities in the Philippines’ special economic zones, the fiscal and non-fiscal incentives being offered by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and the “windows of opportunities” for foreign investors that will be opened by the establishment of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) this December.
The Embassy promoted Philippine dried mangoes by giving sample packets. The video “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” was also shown, and tourism brochures and CDs of Philippine classic love songs were also distributed to the attendees. As part of the Embassy’s “culinary diplomacy,” attendees also sampled Filipino cuisine staples: pancit, adobo, and lumpiang prito.
Ambassador Paez was also shown the Pope John Paul II center which “houses” a collection of books, videos, and other information materials about Pope John Paul II. Part of the center’s collection are several coffee table books about Pope John Paul II’s visit to Manila in 1995. The Embassy’s Principal Assistant for Economic Diplomacy Attache Evelyn Vega joined Ambassador Paez during the Philippine promotion campaign.
“Faith in Business” is a new organization composed of young entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium enterprises who profess the Catholic faith with several chapters in Poland. END