Chamber of Commerce and Industry Australia Philippines Incorporated

An Evening with The Australian Trade Commissioner in Manila

31st March 2009

Dennis Hickman

Director International Affairs – Chamber of Commerce and Industry Australia Philippines Incorporated

On Tuesday the 24th of February The Philippines chapter of The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Australia Philippines Incorporated (CCIAP) attended the residence of Mr. Ross Bray The Australian Trade Commissioner for The Philippines, in South Forbes Park, Manila.

Manila resident Frances Hickman the Public Relations Manager for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Australia Philippines Incorporated had discussions with many different industry heads, and it was very insightful, one of the people in attendance Mr Darden Eure of Bridge Worldwide Relocations made comment that his company was very busy at present relocating furniture for Ex Pats, nothing unusual about that as he said he is generally busy, what is different today he explained is that the Ex Pats were now Filipino’s who were returning to The Philippines after being retrenched due to the Global Financial Crisis from places such as Dubai, Hong Kong, Canada and the UK.

The general opinion was that The Philippines had not yet been hit by the worst of the Global Financial Crisis and the predictions were the crisis would really start to have effect in the third quarter of 2009, which was interesting to me as there have been long running sales in Metro Manila in outlets in which previously you would never have seen a sale, let alone a long running one, there are also daily reports here of Overseas Filipino Workers being returned from Australia and Canada and also reports weekly in the National Newspapers in Manila of layoffs by companies such as Intel and Hitachi.

The current situation does however present great opportunities so it certainly is not all doom and gloom, The Philippines is now even more attractive for companies wishing to set up business here relocating from countries like Australia, the amount of skilled and experienced labour and the Philippines Government incentives available here for overseas businesses is substantial, certainly the BPO and IT industry is still extremely strong here in Manila and in fact the IT industry appears to be growing rather than diminishing.

It was a well attended event and I extend my thanks to The Australian Trade Commissioner Ross Bray for opening up his residence and providing insight to us into The Philippines economy.