Philippines seeks stronger economic ties with Sweden

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is seeking enhanced cooperation and investment opportunities with Sweden in a bid to boost the local economy.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto recently met with Swedish Ambassador Harald Fries to discuss the country’s economic prospects and explore further cooperation with Swedish investors.

Fries noted that Sweden is keen on expanding investments and collaboration with the Philippines particularly in the areas of infrastructure, transportation, digitalization, healthcare, energy and responsible mining.

Sweden also expressed interest in expanding its involvement in the Philippines’ defense and security sectors.

Another area of focus was technology transfer, with Sweden offering favorable export credit solutions to facilitate trade between the two countries and enable the Philippine government to access more competitive financing terms for the procurement of Swedish technologies.

The Philippines and Sweden are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on financial and development cooperation, which will pave the way for deeper collaboration across critical sectors.

In a related development, the Philippines and Portugal are moving toward improving the country’s tax system and national development.

The Department of Finance and Portugal’s Ministry of Finance recently engaged in bilateral meetings to explore partnerships for training, research, capacity-building, as well as other educational opportunities available for the DOF and its attached bureaus and agencies.

It also allowed the Philippines to share its experiences, opportunities and challenges brought about by increased e-commerce and digitalization.

Both countries discussed tax policy, tax administration and modernizing collection systems.