The Philippines and The Netherlands are looking to further elevate their 70-year-old bilateral relations, with a special focus on economic cooperation and climate change.
In a recent forum held from Nov. 9 to 10, the Philippine government through Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Manila is committed to “re-energizing” relations with Amsterdam, particularly on the agri-food, water, and infrastructure; the circular economy; and maritime and healthcare sectors.
Locsin said The Netherlands’ renewed foreign policy interest in the Indo-Pacific is also a positive development, particularly its commitment to sustainable trade and investment relations and providing active support for EU negotiations on free trade agreements with Indo-Pacific countries.
“We are hopeful that this will further expand business-to-business engagements between the private sectors of our countries,” he said.
Secretary General Paul Huijts of The Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for his part, confirmed the “growing importance of the Indo-Pacific, in which the Philippines is a strategic player” in its foreign policy.
“The Netherlands is the second biggest EU trading partner of the Philippines and the biggest EU investor in the Philippines, and more recently, sustainability has become a key element for our bilateral cooperation,” he said.
As a seafaring nation, he said The Netherlands also takes a “particular interest in freedom of passage and other topical issues” in the region.
Apart from existing engagements, Philippine Ambassador to The Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya said the two nations could also share knowledge in addressing climate change.
“Both the Philippines and the Netherlands are maritime countries, and perhaps we can learn from the Dutch, most of whose land has been reclaimed from the sea. This knowledge is crucial in these times of rising sea levels and climate change,” he said.
The two nations celebrated 70 years of diplomatic relations last May 17. Despite a distance of 10,600 kilometers between each other, the Netherlands remains as one of the top five investors in the Philippines
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the total trade between the two nations in 2020 alone reached USD2.42 billion, while the total exports to the Netherlands hit USD1.90 billion.
At present, among the major Dutch investors in the Philippines are Shell, Philips, Unilever, ABN-AMRO and ING Banks, Makro and Liquigaz.
The two countries held last June 29 their second bilateral consultations, which resulted in a joint blueprint for the future of their bilateral cooperation.
Locsin said the Philippines looks forward to updating the 1995 Memorandum of Understanding on Economic and Technological Cooperation, to raise the two nations’ partnership “to the next level”.
Source: Philippines News Agency