Sweden is eyeing the Philippines’ energy transmission prospects, among various interests for long term economic collaboration and potential investments given the country’s strong economic growth and young population that have set the Philippines distinct from the rest of its neighbors.
Sweden Minister for Foreign Trade Johan Forsell
This was emphasized by Sweden Minister for Foreign Trade Johan Forssell, who is on a two-day visit in the Philippines discussing with the secretaries of the departments of Energy, Trade, National Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Finance, to further increase bilateral economic cooperation.
“We discussed yesterday the transmission, that is the energy of transmission, which is an area where we are world leading, I would say, and also energy efficiency,” said the minister of his meeting with the Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla on Thursday, May 18.
“We are investing heavily now in solar and … small and medium sized nuclear reactors. So this is an area where I think we can have a collaboration in the future,” he added noting the presence of ABB, a Swedish energy company in the country.
On energy efficiency, Forssell said that Sweden is no longer interested in fossil fuel and is investing heavily in green energy, particularly solar. He noted that the HVDC (high-voltage direct current) technique was actually developed in Sweden.
“There is a strong and growing interest among many Swedish companies investing here in divergence. This has to do with the strong economic growth, but also the fact that there is a young population here. We also know that the Build Back More agenda fits perfectly well with many or all of our world leading Swedish companies,” he said adding that the great transition infrastructure, ICT solutions, transport, healthcare are really perfect with Swedish expertise.
“We discussed the fact that this market is growing in a very rapid pace,” he said. Other areas of interest include sustainable transportation, railways, BRT systems, defense, among others.
He said there are lots of potential of cooperation for both countries as he stressed that Sweden would like to help the Philippines “take the next step in your very impressive economic journey”, including providing efficient transportation systems that would make it easier for people to reach their jobs and “don’t have to spend hours and hours in lines and queues.”
He further noted that Sweden has been a long term partner with the Philippines for many years. Today, he pointed out there are 40 different private companies located here in the Philippines.
He noted the two big Swedish retailers H & M and Ikea. H&M has already more than 40 stores in the Philippines and Ikea’s single largest store is located in Manila.
In terms of trade, Swedish exports to the Philippines rose 10.5 percent in 2022 versus 2019 to $152 million. It also imported from the Philippines worth $124 million.
On the imports side, the total value of Swedish imports from the Philippines was $124 million.
“That also tells us something that is very important that trade goes in both directions. And that's what we really wanted in a partnership. You selling things to us and we selling things to you… So this is really a partnership that we're looking for,” he added.
The Swedish foreign trade minister also emphasized that Philippines is the only country that he is visiting in this trip in this region.
“There is an obvious reason for that, but still, we believe that there is potential for so much more,” he said.