and Industry; H.E. Leah M. Basinang-Ruiz, Philippine Ambassador to Poland; Rafal Owczarek of Polish Investment & Trade Agency; Althea Antonio of Philippine Trade and Investment Center—Berlin; Consul Alena Borra of the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw; Allyson Artes of the Philippines-Poland Business Council; Roberto Amores of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Dr. Andrzej Arendarski of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, Polish Chamber of Commerce Foreign Relations Department; Jerzy Pietrucha of Pietrucha Group; and Emmanuel Pineda of Authority of Freeport of Bataan during the “Let’s do business together” webinar last April 8, 2021.
Poland seeks to deepen its bilateral relations with the Philippines, identifying green technology, agri-food and information technology as key investment areas.
The Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC)-Berlin, Philippine Embassy in Warsaw and the Polish Chamber of Commerce recently held a virtual event to tackle the trade and investment opportunities between Warsaw and Manila.
“The demographic and economic potential of the Philippines and Poland should generate greater cooperation…. We want to diversify economic cooperation, especially in the Asia-Pacific area,” said Undersecretary Robert Tomanek of the Poland Ministry of Economic Development, Labor and Technology.
Tomanek noted that the bilateral trade between Poland and the Philippines has grown by two-fold from 2015 to 2020. In addition, he emphasized the need to diversify trade and encourage businesses from both countries to continue looking for opportunities in various fields.
Apart from mentioned key investment areas, Rafal Owczarek of Polish Investment and Trade Agency Office in Manila enumerated Poland’s priority sectors. These include financial technology, cyber security, video games, smart cities, drone technologies and water management sector, among others.
Meanwhile, PTIC-Berlin Commercial Counsellor Althea Antonio noted that the priority sectors of the Philippines for promotion to Europe are electronics, semiconductors and information technology-business processing management.
Antonio added that processed foods have a significant export potential as well, in addition to industrial products and service exports.
For Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), agriculture is a key sector.
PCCI Vice Chair for Asia and Asean Affairs Roberto Amores invited Polish firms to explore joint ventures, investments and market distributions of coconuts, bananas, processed mangoes and pineapples, cacaos and other high-value crops that have robust demand in the European Union (EU).
Trade Undersecretary Ireneo Vizmonte, in encouraging Polish firms to invest in the Philippines, highlighted the efforts of the government in boosting the country’s economic recovery, citing the recent signing of Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.
CREATE reduced the corporate income tax to 20 percent from 30 percent for domestic corporations with net taxable income of P5 million and below and have total assets of P100 million and below effective July 1, 2020. All other local firms and resident foreign companies are imposed with 25-percent income tax.
“Through our event today, allow me to reiterate the Philippines’s openness to explore business collaborations and opportunities with our Polish partners,” he added.
Last year, Poland was Philippines’s 32nd trading partner, 26th biggest export market and 41st largest import source. Bilateral trade between the countries last year reached $298 million.