Meetings with top firms cap Aquino's Paris visit

PARIS, France — President Benigno Aquino III capped his three-day visit to this city by meeting with business executives who have expressed interested to invest in the Philippines

He met with officials of Airbus on Tuesday to talk about enhanced cooperation between the Philippines and the European airplane manufacturer.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. noted that significant Airbus A350 components are sourced from the Philippines like actuator, galleys and toilets.

"The Philippine aviation industry is ramping up with new capacity. The Philippines is a high potential source of components manufacturing," Coloma said.

The Philippines and Airbus have "agreed to take appropriate measures for the joint development and production of an airliner," according to a Malacañang press statement.

Airbus is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military airlifters. The company was established in 1967 by France, Germany and Britain who agreed to boost European cooperation in aviation technology.

Aquino also met with officials of CRH, the first and biggest Irish investment in the Philippines. The company is planning to introduce its company, cement manufacturing operations and expansion plans in the Philippines.

CRH is one of the world’s leading building materials companies that has presence in 37 countries.

Aquino also interacted with officials of Sanofi Pasteur, a company that developed a vaccine candidate against dengue fever that may be introduced to the Philippines. Health Secretary Janette Garin said the government is now formulating guidelines on the use of the vaccine candidate.

"Registration of the vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration FDA is underway and is expected to be completed soon," Garin said in a statement issued by Coloma.

Sanofi Pasteur's dengue vaccine candidate became the first to complete the phase three or the advanced, pre-product launch clinical studies in 2014. Studies involving more than 40,000 subjects are still being conducted in 15 dengue-endemic and non-endemic countries, including the Philippines.

A separate meeting was also held between the president and Anders Skeini, chief executive officer of Jacobi Carbons Group AB, a Swedish company that produces activated carbons using coconut-based raw materials.

The company recently put up an activated carbon manufacturing facility in Cagayan de Oro, which sources raw materials from local coconut farmers.

The president also met with Usine IO, a membership-based workshop in Paris dedicated to hardware technologies and startups.

Located in a 1,500-square-meter property, the company serves as an innovation and hardware prototyping platform or launch pad for hardware products. It has about 300 members who have access to its technical services, tools and equipment and consulting services.