DEAL TEAM. Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual (left) and Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell during a press conference on the sidelines of the 6th Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting (PAMM) held in Adelaide, Australia on Monday (Oct. 9, 2023). One of the takeaways from the PAMM is Australia's establishment of Investment Deal Team in Manila. (Screenshot from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade YouTube channel)
MANILA – The Australian government announced on Monday that it will establish an Investment Deal Team in the Philippines to bring Australian investments into the country.
This was announced by Australian Trade and Tourism Minster Don Farrell in a press conference in Adelaide on the sidelines of the 6th Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting (PAMM) attended by foreign and trade chiefs of both countries.
Farrell said the Australian government considers the Philippines as an “extremely important” economic partner, with its demographics and fast gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which is one of the fastest in the world.
“That is why today, we agreed to promote opportunities to boost two-way trade and investment through sending a business mission to the Philippines next year and establish an Investment Deal Team in Manila itself,” the Australian minister said.
The "deal teams" are part of the three immediate initiatives of Australia under its newly launched Southeast Asia Economic Strategy 2040, wherein the Australian government allocated 70.2 million Australian dollars to establish these teams in ASEAN.
Other initiatives also include the Southeast Asia Business Exchange and the Placements and Internships Pilot Program for Young Professionals.
The "deal teams" will be looking for investment opportunities in the region for Australian companies.
Last week, the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) in Manila said its government eyes three locations for the "deal teams" in the region, but Manila was not included in the list.
Asked for further details, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Manila is an addition to the first three locations eyed by the Australian government, and this was also the first host city for the "deal teams" announced by the Australian government.
“This is a takeaway from the 6th PAMM,” DTI told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a Viber message.
The agency also said that adding the Philippines to its list is a “recognition of more work to be done in terms of bilateral trade and investment relations between the two countries as discussed at the PAMM. It is also a means to operationalize the elevation of the strategic partnership as well as Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040”
During the same press conference in Adelaide, DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the strategic partnership with Australia sends a strong signal of commitment across a spectrum of areas, including security, maritime, people-to-people, trade and investments, and regional strategic issues.
“We will work together to further enhance the collaboration in the areas of mutual interests such as agriculture, education, critical minerals, and clean energy. There’s a lot of room for doing this enhancement,” he said.
The DTI disclosed that during the first two days of the official trip of the trade chief in Australia, at least three Australian firms have pitched their investment plans in the Philippines.
Aside from Southern Infrastructure and Kaizen ANZ, which offered to build a 40-megawatt thorium-fired nuclear reactor, Pascual also met with Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMGL) regional manager for Asia Jeff Pearman.
Pearman expressed the FMGL's intent to explore investment opportunities, especially in utilizing hydrogen for transport. (PNA)
