13 March 2013 - The Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv, in cooperation with the Office of the Vice President, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) organized a prominent Israeli Business Delegation to the Philippines headed by former member of the Israeli Parliament and current President of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce Ran Cohen.
The delegation, composed of 15 Israeli businessmen representing at least 16 companies, proceeded to Manila from February 18 to 22 upon the invitation of Vice President Jejomar Binay following his first official visit to Israel in late 2012.
This was the first serious Israeli business delegation to the Philippines organized by the Philippine Embassy in more than a decade.
In his visit to Israel, particularly during the business meeting organized by the Embassy and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICC) in Tel Aviv, Vice President Binay encouraged and assured the Israeli business community leaders that the Philippines is a reliable trade and investment partner of Israel and that “it is undeniable that the Philippines is experiencing today an economic resurgence that never fails to impress the rest of the world including the most skeptical.”
VP Binay extended a personal invitation to the Israeli businessmen who attended the meeting. As a matter of fact, four separate business visits from Israel to the Philippines were hosted by the Office of the Vice President, culminating with the business delegation organized three months later.
The PCCI initially identified the areas of particular interest for cooperation and networking with the Israeli delegation such as tourism, food production, medical technology, agro-technology, solar/geothermal energy, telecommunications, medical, water management, import/export of wood, telemedicine, smart technology and defense/security.
The Embassy, in cooperation with PCCI and the DFA, provided the delegation special ground handling arrangements, and local billeting/transportation provisions in Manila.
On the first day of visit, the delegates made a courtesy call on Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario. Secretary Del Rosario underscored the special bond between Israelis and Filipinos right before the Holocaust and World War II; and even shared his own family’s connection to Jewish refugees then in Manila. He noted the general profile of the Israeli delegation members which are small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and the crucial role of SMEs in the Philippines.
The delegation members later made a courtesy call on Vice President Binay in the Coconut Palace. The event was attended by top officials of the PCCI led by Attorney Miguel Varela. Other prominent Filipino business leaders were in attendance and directly engaged the delegation members in initial business to business meetings.
The Israel Asia Chamber of Commerce (IACC) utilized the event for the signing of a sister chamber renewal agreement between the latter and the PICC. Mr. Ron Doron, the President of the proposed Philippine Chamber of Commerce in Israel under the auspices of the IACC, facilitated the signing ceremony between IACC President Ran Cohen and PCCI President Varela.
Under the said renewal agreement, IACC and PCCI commit to “take all the opportunities within their competence to promote, strengthen and expand trade, economic, scientific, technological cooperation and other business relations between the two Chambers and firms of both parties.”
IACC and PCCI also pledge to “exchange information about commerce, industry and economy in general” and “assist their members in establishing and strengthening business contacts with the objective of promoting the growth of trade between Filipino and Israeli businessmen.” More importantly, the two chambers agree “to organize trade missions to explore areas of collaboration that will broaden the trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.”
The delegation then proceeded to make a brief courtesy call on Makati Mayor Erwin Jejomar Binay. Also in attendance in the same meeting were Makati City Council members Monsour del Rosario, Maria Concepcion Yabut and Tosca Puno-Ramos.
Mayor Binay, like the Vice President, also previously visited Israel in 2012 to attend the International Mayors’ Conference in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Mayor Binay gave the delegates a brief introduction about the city, its current socio-economic programs and the general ease of doing business in the city.
The delegation then continued to the PCCI office in McKinley Hills-Taguig City for the official program which included an afternoon of business-to-business (B2B) meetings organized by the latter. PCCI provided the crucial assistance in business matching based on the request and business profiles of the delegation members. Prior to the much-anticipated B2B meetings, there was a short and formal program.
The official program included speeches of Attorney Varela, Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Menashe Bar On, Mr. Ron Doron, Mr. Ran Cohen, Atty. Mario Oreta who is also the Vice Presidential Consultant of Business Matters and the Israeli trade attaché Doron Hemo who is based in Taiwan.
Ambassador Calonge punctuated his speech with his mention of the profile of the bilateral trade between the Philippines and Israel and Israeli investments in the Philippines.
PCCI sucessfully invited more than a hundred participants in the official program and in the B2B meetings with the delegates.
Prominent guests included representatives from Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, San Miguel Corporation, Megaworld, and the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC).
Also in attendance was a local Filipino-Jewish special advocacy group and several media outfits. A lively Q and A with the Filipino guests also followed the program.
After the program, a few delegates were interviewed by a local news outfit which later came out in several local online news portals in Manila.
During the B2B meetings, each delegation member was assigned a table to formally welcome their respective B2B partners. Selected delegation members also had the chance to meet with other PCCI officials separately during the half-day event.
The business delegation concluded their official visit to the Philippines on February 22 although some of the delegation members stayed in the Philippines until February 27. One of them was Mr. Yariv Fisher, CEO of the Israeli travel and ticketing firm flyeast ltd. who proceeded to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan to meet with local hotel business owners in the area for possible promotion of the latter in Israel through his firm. Mr. Fisher also met Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn and the local tourism officials of the city. He later proceeded to Boracay for the same purpose and met local hotel owners and the officials of the Tourism office on the island.
Another member of the delegation who stayed longer in Manila was Mr. Shalom Maidan who is interested to look into real estate investments and partnerships in the Philippines. Mr. Maidan met selected Ayala Land officials in Makati prior to his departure from Manila (one of them later joined Mr. Maidan to Israel for initial promotional activities).
Over all, the business delegation visit proved to be well received and well-timed. The delegation members including delegation head Mr. Ran Cohen relayed their appreciation and gratitude to the Embassy for all the arrangements specially the firm B2B meetings and courtesy calls.
The Embassy is currently monitoring the follow through activities of the delegation members and assured them of the Embassy’s continuous official assistance.
The business delegation visit is in support of further strengthening the economic relations between Israel and the Philippines, encourage and support bigger outbound and inbound missions, and underscore the generally upbeat and positive appreciation of the Philippine economic performance by the international community including Israel.
The visit also aimed to improve, through business exchanges, bilateral trade figures which currently stand at close to a quarter of a billion dollars with FY 2012 trade balance in favor of the Philippines for the first time in many years.
Special thanks to the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, the Israel Asia Chamber of Commerce, the Israeli Export Institute and the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor for their assistance and cooperation. END
