GMA eyes wider trade with Europe

President Arroyo called for closer trade ties with Europe yesterday as she prepared to make her first visit there since she came to power a year ago.

She was scheduled to fly to London last night on the first leg of an eight-day foray into economic diplomacy that will also take her to Canada and the United States.

"This is my first trip to Europe since I became president. It is important that we pay more attention to Europe because we are too dependent on the American market," she told local Bombo Radio in an interview.

"It was fortunate that the domestic market was healthy when the US market slumped, otherwise our economy could have gone down with it," she added.

Europe accounted for just 18.1 percent, or $6.9 billion, of total Philippine merchandise exports of about $38 billion in calendar 2000, compared to the US share of $11.37 billion or 29.8 percent according to official figures.

Total Philippine exports to Europe in 2000 were only slightly more than its exports to Japan totaling $5.6 billion.

"We need to look for new markets in Europe," Mrs. Arroyo said.

She said Britain is the top European investor in the Philippines.

Mrs. Arroyo is scheduled to hold separate meetings with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the presidential palace said.

Mrs. Arroyo added that Canada is a key provider of official development assistance, particularly for projects in the rebellion-torn Muslim region of Mindanao.

The President is also scheduled to address the World Economic Forum in New York.

She said she would use the trip there to drum up foreign investor interest for the scheduled sale this year of the generating and transmission assets of the loss-making state utility National Power Corp.

"We will launch a roadshow for investments in our power sector in New York," she said.

In the radio interview, the President said that during her absence, the Palace caretaker committee headed by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo will be activated to handle the government’s day-to-day operations.

The US visit, her second in two months, comes amid the deployment of about 600 American troops in Mindanao for joint operations against the Abu Sayyaf Islamist group. – Paolo Romero