Philippines seeks to strengthen commercial relations with JAFZA

Dubai, July 16, 2013 (WAM) - A Philippine Government delegation comprising Grace Princesa, Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines to the UAE and Frank Cimafranca, the Consul-General, visited JAFZA recently, meeting with Ibrahim Mohamed Al Janahi, Deputy CEO and Chief Commercial Officer, to discuss opportunities to further strengthen bilateral trade relations between the two countries. In the discussions, officials on both sides reiterated the need to strengthen Philippines-JAFZA trade ties, which effectively means generating a stronger presence of the Philippines in the region. Ibrahim Al Janahi briefed the visiting dignitaries on JAFZA's key offerings and strengths, particularly the Free Zones' unique customer driven work ethos. He also highlighted JAFZA's outstanding logistics strengths that enable Free Zone customers to reach all key markets in West and South Asia, Africa and the CIS at the fastest pace. Al Janahi said, "The Middle East is one of the fastest growing regions in the world and offers huge business opportunities for a country like the Philippines, which has fairly strong electronics, garments, transport equipment and agri-product sectors. We pledge our full support to Philippine businesses, who want to capitalise on rapidly growing demands in the regional markets. We invite them to come here and base their regional operations in JAFZA." During the discussions, Al Janahi also highlighted JAFZA's incubator concept which is designed to support new businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, who wish to first explore opportunities before setting-up their fully-fledged operations. JAFZA-Philippines trade is estimated to have crossed USD 155 million in 2012, up more than 10% from 2011. Bilateral trade between the two sides peaked in 2010 at USD 173 million. Both sides want to cross this peak in the current fiscal year and look forward to working closely to achieve this by bringing more Philippines businesses into the Free Zone. JAFZA is currently home to more than 7000 of the world's finest companies who have established their regional headquarters there. – Emirates News Agency, WAM