Bilateral trade between the Philippines and Poland more than quadrupled in the past five years encouraging both countries to further broaden their economic cooperation.
This was highlighted at the recent virtual business forum “Let's do business together: Poland-Philippines - opportunities and prospects for economic cooperation” organized by the Polish Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Poland to discuss potential cooperation between the two nations in the areas of trade and investment, business and development.
Speaking on behalf of the Polish Ministry of Economic Development, Labor and Technology, Undersecretary Robert Tomanek highlighted the 100 percent increase of bilateral trade between Poland and the Philippines from 2015 to 2020.
He stressed the importance of the diversification of trade and encouraged businesses on both sides of the spectrum to consider exploring opportunities in green technologies, water technologies and sustainable urban development.
Polish Investment &Trade Agency office in Manila, Rafal Owczarek reported that two-way trade between the two countries has more than quadrupled over the past decade from EUR 130 million in 2010 to EUR 633 million in 2020.
He cited the importance of furthering relations between businesses and government departments on both sides of the spectrum.
The top categories of traded products showcasing Poland’s top export categories last year include helicopters, dairy products, orthopaedic equipment, machinery and telecommunication equipment.
It was worth mentioning, according to him, that despite the Covid-19 pandemic which created sharp 400 percent increase in shipping costs, Poland’s export to the Philippines had experienced 69 percent year on year increase from EUR106 million in 2019 to EUR 179 million in 2020.
Owczarek advised Polish companies to invest time in building relationships with potential partners because business in the Philippines is often done with friends. He also laid importance to patience as the decision-making process in the Philippines may require discussion at several corporate levels. Mr Owczarek closed his presentation by highlighting upcoming projects in Poland’s priority sectors such as fintech, cybersecurity, video games, smart cities, drone technologies, green technologies, food production technologies, MedTech and the water management sector.
In a presentation, Philippine Commercial Consul based in Berlin Althea Antonio highlighted the strengths of the domestic market, including abundant labour, high value manufacturing, and expanding spare income. Ms Antonio spoke about trade and investment opportunities in the Electronics, Business Process Outsourcing which Philippines hold 13 percent market share, aero manufacturing industry and the automotive industry.
Jerzy Pietrucha, CEO of Pietrucha Group a Polish manufacturing business operating from the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) in the Philippines gave out insightful outline of how the company started manufacturing in AFAB, from finding a local joint venture partner to achieving the champion status last year when the company reinvested in their factory in order to double manufacturing capacity and meet local and regional demand.
Similarly, in his case study presentation Krzysztof Kogutkiewicz,CEO of Nextbank, a very successful Polish finetch operating in the Philippines since 2018 shared his experience of building a leading cloud core banking operations for country’s top financial institutions. He emphasized the importance of innovative approach, especially in regards to digital money wallets.
According to him, opportunities for Polish businesses in the Philippines are plenty and they may be found everywhere. However, he warned about foreign equity restrictions which Philippines still practices as well as attempting to register business without help of local professionals. His advice was to start small and invest time to build products and services destined to serve customers in the long term.
The event attracted over 100 business participants from Poland and the Philippines.