Cebu traders urged to do business with Australia and New Zealand

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry is encouraging the Cebuano business community to take advantage of the huge market in Australia and New Zealand through the upcoming event dubbed “Seminar on Doing Business with Australia and New Zealand.”

Held in cooperation with the Australia Trade Commission (AusTrade) and the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE), the seminar is part of the DTI’s business education drive to improve access of Philippine products and services to non-traditional markets such as Australia and New Zealand, and for Philippine companies to avail of the benefits from reduced or eliminated tariff barriers under the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation)-Australia-New Zealand Foreign Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).

DTI-Cebu Provincial Office director Nelia F. Navarro said that the event, slated on March 23 at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel, is expected to gain interest from the exporters, importers, and customs brokers, specifically that the conventional markets like United States and Europe are still under economic pressures.

The AANZFTA is a highly comprehensive economic agreement participated in by the Philippines and it covers trade in goods, services, investments, intellectual property, e-commerce, entry of business people, and economic cooperation. Entered into force in January 2010, the Agreement is also the most comprehensive FTA that ASEAN has ever negotiated. Under the AANZFTA, 96.4 percent and 84.7 percent of all products that may be imported by Australia and New Zealand, respectively, can already enter their markets at zero tariffs   thereby reducing the cost of doing business for Philippine exporters. 

The March 23 seminar will have resource persons from the DTI-Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP), the Australian Trade Commission (AusTrade), the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE), and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) who will discuss market opportunities under the AANZFTA, tariff levels, how to do business with Australia and New Zealand, and the various procedures and documentary requirements on availing these benefits (e.g. how to apply for a Certificate of Origin with the BoC).

In an earlier interview with Australia Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith, he said that Australia can be a good potential market particularly for Cebuano exporters, considering that it has large size of affluent consumers.

“Philippine exporters are slow to see Australia as a market,” said Smith adding that Cebu and the rest of the Visayas should see the big potential and opportunity that await them in Australia and New Zealand.

Latest record showed that the Philippines is only getting three percent of the total US$90 billion trade of Australia in different countries in the ASEAN market. Thailand and Singapore are two of its largest trading partners in the region.

Likewise, New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Andrew Matheson, in a separate interview, said that there are lot of opportunities that Filipino exporters can take advantage of in the growing market base in his country.

Matheson said that the AANZFTA means that Philippine exporters will be on an even footing in terms of tariffs with exporters from other countries that New Zealand has an existing FTA with such as China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, and Australia.

“Philippine consumers and New Zealand exporters will also gain from the tariff commitments made by the Philippines. Tariffs on most of New Zealand’s exports to the Philippines including dairy, wine, and fruits such as kiwi and apples will eventually disappear. These are significant outcomes,” Matheson said.

In 2010, New Zealand food and beverage exports to the Philippines totaled approximately US$475 million, a 30 percent increase from the previous year. --- (FREEMAN)