MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 19, 2013) – The Philippines and Sweden have recently concluded their second bilateral consultations in Manila and both countries vowed to vigorously pursue stronger links and expand business opportunities, Filipino officials said.
Officials said the meeting was co-chaired by Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for European Affairs Elizabeth Buensuceso and Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director-General for Trade Eva Walder.
Since holding their first bilateral consultations last year in Stockholm, the Philippines and Sweden have been working together to forge stronger people-to-people links and expand bilateral business opportunities by focusing their discussion on areas of cooperation such as, trade and investment, tourism, renewable energy, water and waste management, sustainable urban development, labor migration and education/cultural exchanges.
Officials said both countries agreed to move forward the proposals taken up during this consultation that would lead to further expansion of cooperation between them. And as agreed during the first bilateral consultations, Sweden, through Business Sweden (formerly known as the Swedish Trade Council), brought in a business delegation composed of 12 Swedish companies composed of around 20 businessmen to provide the much-needed boost to jumpstart the bilateral trade relations between the two countries.
These companies represent both old companies already doing business in the Philippines and new companies that are possible new entrants into the Philippine investment market, which signify the best of what Sweden has to offer in terms of knowledge, technology, products and services. They are Atlas Copco, Celemi, Clean Motion, Comex Intl., Electrolux, Ericsson, Handelsbanken, Ikano, Swedish Foreign Trade Association, SEK, Tetrapak and Volvo.
Further, in view of the interest expressed by the Philippine side in exploring how to apply the SymbioCity of concept of Sweden in the Philippine setting, a separate seminar was organized by Sweden for Philippine government agencies, such as Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Department of Energy, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council the following day in Makati.
SymbioCity is the trademarked term for Sweden’s approach to sustainable urban development.
Established in 2008, the program’s primary goal is to export Sweden’s knowledge and experience with sustainable cities. It was created in order to assist Swedish environmental technology companies with their international marketing by creating a common trademark.
According to the SymbioCity approach, environmental and economic gains result from unlocking synergies between urban systems.
Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Sweden were established on 17 January 1947. Sweden is considered a regional political and economic power in Northern Europe and holds a premier position among the Scandinavian and Nordic countries. On the other hand, the strong economic performance of the Philippines has attracted the attention of Swedish businessmen to revisit their economic cooperation with the country.
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