300 Canadian business leaders coming for a trade mission
Around 300 Canadian business leaders will be visiting the Philippines for a three-day trade mission next month—the largest delegation ever from the North American country.
“In terms of specific numbers, we are looking at over 180 organizations, 17 different sectors with a total of about 300 business leaders coming,” Guy Boileau, senior trade commissioner at the Embassy of Canada in Manila, said in a press conference on Thursday.
“This is really a whole of government, a whole of Canada initiative,” he added.
The trade mission will take place from Dec. 4 to 6, with events scheduled at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taguig and the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay.
Firms
The Canadian embassy official added 60 percent of the delegation represented small and medium enterprises, while the rest belonged to large companies.
Boileau said the firms were engaged in food security, agriculture, processed food and beverage, clean technology, energy efficiency, water and wastewater treatment, green mining and infrastructure development.
Business leaders from the defense sector, financial technology and information technology are also expected to join.
Growing economy
Boileau said the country’s growing economy had attracted the interest of these private businesses.
“This year [it’s a] 5.8-percent [gross domestic product] growth. We’re looking at projections of 6 to 6.5 in 2025, 2026,” he said.
“This is a country that is English-speaking, so it makes things much easier,” he added.
Boileau also noted the Philippines has a young and tech-savvy population.
He said the country has also legislated major economic reforms in recent years, including the amended public service act, allowing full foreign ownership in the renewable energy sector, and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy Act.
According to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority in April, two-way trade in goods between the countries reached $1.49 billion in 2023.
