PBBC Chairman’s Christmas Message

“The Philippine British Business Council wishes all its members and partners a very Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year.

We are looking forward to activities during 2026 to help increase trade between the Philippines and the UK.

The Philippines will become Chairman of ASEAN with several trade opportunities and events to look forward to.”

Joe Miro, Chairman, PBBC

 

 

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Philippine-British Investment Forum

Invitation from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to the Philippine-British Investment Forum scheduled on 27 June 2025, 10:00 a.m., at the HSBC Office, Level 34, Village Room 16, 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf E14 5HQ.

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Those who are interested to attend may register by scanning the QR code above or via this link: https://forms.office.com/r/3hmNgyg84z

 

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UK-Southeast Asia Tech Week 2025

 

Asia tech week 2025

UK-Southeast Asia Tech Week 2025 is the UK’s flagship annual event on science, innovation and technology in Southeast Asia. This year’s event will run from Monday 24 March to Friday 28 March 2025 in the Philippines (Manila) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City).

This year, the UK is taking a delegation of cutting-edge UK AI and data companies to meet with stakeholders and potential partners in Southeast Asia. The companies represent the UK’s tech prowess – we are home to a $1 trillion tech sector with over 150 unicorns.

UK-Southeast Tech Week 2024 was a resounding success, with 150 bespoke business meetings organised, several of which resulted in commercial partnerships for UK companies. This is the third annual Southeast Asia Tech Week. The 2024 programme brought together 10 UK companies and over 500 Southeast Asian counterparts for a full week of activities.

Showcasing the best of UK AI and Data

We are excited to showcase 13 AI and data companies’ cutting-edge solutions in areas such as artificial intelligence, fintech, health tech, and more.

Our goal is to foster meaningful connections and partnerships that will drive technological advancements and economic growth in the UK and Southeast Asia.

See the programme, details of UK companies attending and how to register CLICK HERE

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Great British Festival 2024 (19-20 October 2024) Manila

Great British Festival 2024

  • THE British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (BCCP) announced the return of the Great British Festival; following its great success in its return last 2023 since its hiatus in 2019 due to the pandemic–in partnership with the British Embassy Manila and the British Council
  • Celebrates UK-Philippine Friendship Day on 20 October 2024
  • A total of 38 UK Companies and over 50,000 attendees joined the event in 2023
  • GBF 2023 Activities: Radical Sportscars F1 simulators, Bike show by Triumph Motorcycles, Bathbomb making by Lush, Samples and selling of One World Butchers, Union Jack Tavern, Quorn, The Borough Pizza Pub, Face-painting and Caricature making
  • GBF 2024 aims to host a much-larger event with more British companies to join

For further information contact BCCP at info@britcham.org.ph 

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UK – Philippines Trade Data (2nd August 2024)

UK - Philippines Trade Data

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Feb 03

Philippine Tourism Increase

Statistics from the Philippines Department of Tourism in London show a significant increase in Philippine tourism from the UK.Philippines Tourism

At the same time Philippine Airlines have announced the imminent increase in direct flights between London and Manila to seven days per week. Daily flights will be starting in the next few months.

Visitors Arrivals from the UK to the Philippines has risen by 14.8% from Jan – Oct 2015 over the same period the year before. This represents 123,414 visitors which represents only about 2.8% of all arrivals into the Philippines. A full analysis of Philippines Tourism Statistics and arrivals over this period can be seen at Philippine Tourism Statistics or at http://e-services.tourism.gov.ph:8080/didcs/Static%20Documents/October2015_Table2.pdf

The Philippines Department of Tourism (PODT) has increased it’s activity to promote more tourism into the Philippines from the UK.

PDOT London has rolled out its new website (www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.co.uk) featuring inspiration ideas and content on the destination as well as package offers to the Philippines from UK tour operator partners.
The Philippines Department of Tourism (PDOT) London will be participating at the Destinations Show (4-7 Feb 2016) in Olympia, London and the London International Dive Show (11-14 Feb 2016) in the Excel exhibition centre. It will also be exhibiting at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Exchange in March to meet with tour operators.

Philippines Department of Tourism London currently has a campaign on the Conde Nast Traveller magazine where subscribers and visitors to the site can win a luxury holiday to the Philippines.

http://www.cntraveller.com/promotions/philippinestourism
Philippines Department of Tourism London is also organising a number of press trips to the Philippines including Bloomberg and notable wildlife personalities, Nigel Marven and Kate Humble from the BBC.

Update September 2016:

·            Total earnings gained from tourism activities for the first half of 2016 amounted to an estimated Php 127.37 billion. This recorded a double-digit gain of 14.70% compared to Php 111.05 billion for the same period in 2015. The month of February recorded the biggest receipts of Php 27.49 billion, as well as, the highest growth of 42.09%.

 

·         For the first half of 2016, the country has welcomed a total of 2,978,438 visitors. This volume is 13.70% higher than the accumulated 2,619,625 arrivals in January to June 2015. Consistent growth is sustained all throughout the first six months with double-digit increases recorded from January to April.  

 

·         There were 86,873 arrivals from the UK during the said period, representing 14.27% growth. The UK ranks as the 9th top visitor market for the Philippines as of June 2016.
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Dec 17

Amazing Statistics About The Philippines

Amazing Statistics about The Philippines is all about some of the most significant statistics that we discovered on our recent business delegation to the Philippines in November. We regularly report on the economic indicators of the country but what we have here is a selection of the most significant statistics over and above some of the economic numbers.economic performance

I mentioned the business delegation. That delegation included 35 representatives from a wide variety of organisations. This in itself is an amazing statistic and shows the increasing interest from UK companies in doing business in the Philippines.

Population

The population in the Philippines is now over 100 million and growing at a rate of around 2% per annum. The average age in the Philippines is 22 – yes, twenty two! Around 50% of the population is below the age of 30! part of this can be explained by the birth rate but part is explained by the fact that several generations of Filipinos went overseas to find work and now send significant sums of money back to the Philippines in the form of remittances. However, many of that older generation are now returning to the Philippines.

Employment

The current unemployment rate in the Philippines is 6.5% in 2014. How many Western countries would give anything to have a figure like this. In the Clark Development Zone, just north of Manila, the Daily Wage Rate is US $7.76.

Telecomms

The Philippines has a world-class telecoms infrastructure, partly driven by the BPO and call centre industry which now employs over 1.2 million people. The voice call centre industry in the Philippines overtook India a couple of years ago.

There are currently 70.5 million mobile telecoms subscribers, 35 million internet users and 3 million broadband users. The telecoms usage in the Philippines is directly as a result of the population profile, the increasing BPO and call centre industry and the investment in telecoms infrastructure which has been driven from Government and Industry foresight.

We have been told that one third of all Facebook traffic worldwide emanates from the Philippines. It’s that population profile again!

Economics

Real GDP growth in the Philippines has been positive every year since 2004. Eleven years of unbroken GDP growth is an outstanding achievement in the light of the global financial turmoil throughout that period. Current GDP growth is in the region of 5.6%.

Infrastructure growth has been in the region of 2.0% of GDP for the last few years. This will increase to 5.0% in 2016.

The Philippines has moved up the world competitive index from 85th to 52nd in the last 5 years. That’s 33 places up the countries league table.

Summary

We could go on about many more statistics, and indeed we will, to show the positive direction of travel of the Philippines on the world stage. It used to be Asia’s best kept secret, but now more and more companies are getting the message and taking notice of the Philippines as an attractive and substantial market for product and services, a superb place to site a South East Asia headquarters, or as a cost effective and high quality manufacturing and outsourcing location.

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Dec 15

Successful Business Delegation Visit November 2015

Another successful business delegation visit took place in November 2015 organised by PBBC members from the UK and the Philippines.

letters presentation

Amb. Tambunting, Amb. Ahmed & Nigel Rich

 

The visit coincided with the 20th Anniversary of the formation of the PBBC and the event did not go unnoticed by the respective heads of government of the two countries. Framed copies of letters received from David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, and from Beningo S. Aquino III, the President of the Philippines were presented to the two Chairmen of the PBBC; Nigel Rich and Ambassador Jesus Tambunting at a reception in the British Ambassador’s residence in Manila.

 

The business delegation included 35 representatives from over 40 organisations and companies. the delegation members broadly fell into the following categories: PBBC members, businesses new to the Philippines, businesses with existing operations in the Philippines and a number of journalists who were researching the Philippines for major articles they are writing about the opportunities in the Philippines.

A wide range of British companies registered for the delegation. The types of companies included Insurance Underwriters, Playground Equipment manufacturers, Construction, Oil and Gas, farming, farm animals, Telecomms, Wood Products, BPO and Call Centres, Internet and Mobile Software, Security Tags, Candle Manufacturer, White Goods and Furniture retailer, international Bank and supplier to the sugar industry.

 

Highlights of the Programme

Economic Briefing by Banco de Oro

BDO presentation

BDO Presentation

Delegates were given a fascinating and thorough presentation by Jonathan L. Ravelas, FVP and Chief Market Strategist of BDO. The talk included statistics for financial, population and business activity. we also had an insight into the candidates for the upcoming Presidential election in the Philippines in 2016.

 

Presentation by PEZA

Elmer San Pascual, Group Manager gave a detailed presentation of the PEZA scheme for overseas companies looking to start operations in the Philippines.

 

Meeting with DTI undersecretary, Ponciano C. Manalo jr, Governor, Board of Investments.

PBBC Reception at the residence of the British Ambassador

Subic Bay SBMA

Subic Bay Management Authority

 

Meetings with ECCP and BCCP

We had a joint meeting with representatives of the European and British Chambers of Commerce of the Philippines.

PBBC and MBC luncheon

Meeting with PCCI Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Asian CEO Awards

Asian CEO Awards

Asian CEO Awards

The PBBC and delegates took a table at the dinner and presentations of the Asian CEO Awards. This was a black tie dinner and awards ceremony at the Marriot Hotel in manila for over 1,200 attendees.

Visits to Subic Bay and Clark Economic development Zones

 

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Nov 04

The PBBC celebrates 20th Anniversary

This November the Philippine British Business Council celebrates its 20th anniversary of foundation.PBBC Delegates with PEZA Director General

This anniversary coincides with a PBBC led business delegation to the Philippines form 10th to 12th November 2015. Some 35 delegates are registered for the visit, led by The Chairman, Nigel Rich, and three Subcommittee Co-Chairmen, Alistair Fulton, Eamonn Staunton and Martyn Skinner, all from the UK.

High level meetings and events have been organised with help from the PBBC membership in the Philippines, The British Embassy in Manila, The Philippines Embassy in London and the British Chamber of Commerce in Manila.

A wide range of British companies are registered for the delegation. The types of companies include Insurance underwriters, playground equipment manufacturers, Construction, Oil and Gas,farming, farm animals, Telecomms, Wood products, BPO and Call centres, internet and mobile software, security tags, candle manufacturer, White goods and furniture retailer, international bank and supplier to the sugar industry.

In addition there are 5 journalists on the business delegation who will each be producing reports on The Philippines for later publication.

The 20Th Anniversary has been marked by letters from the President of The Philippines, His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III, and from the British prime Minister, The Right Honourable David Cameron. These letters will be officially presented to the two PBBC Chairmen at events in London and Manila.

The transcripts of the letters are:

” THE PRIME MINISTER

I would like to congratulate the Philippine British Business Council as it celebrates its twentieth anniversary.

The UK and the Philippines have had a long and fruitful relationship. The UK is now both the largest European investor in the Philippines and the largest recipient of Philippines foreign direct investment in Europe. Bilateral trade between our countries is growing strongly, with UK exports to the Philippines increasing by 44% in the first half of 2015. As business ambassadors, your commitment to championing increased good will and stronger commercial relationships has been an important part of the success story between our two countries.

Whilst your Council has contributed in many ways over its twenty years of operations, I would particularly like to recognise the innovation road-shows you have run in recent years to the UK and to UK companies in Hong Kong and Singapore. These have undoubtedly helped to deepen our business collaboration in the important areas of infrastructure, transport and public-private partnerships.

I wish you a successful anniversary and many fruitful years to come.

13 November 2015 “

 

” MALACANAN PALACE
MANILA

MESSAGE
My warmest greetings to the Philippine British Business Council (PBBC) as you celebrate your 20th Founding Anniversary.
The United Kingdom is one of the largest European investors in the Philippines. Our two nations continue to enjoy excellent trade and investment relations, and as business ambassadors, I hope that your engagements only further deepen the trust between our countries. Your role has been decisive in driving key industry sectors such as agribusiness, energy, IT/BPM, tourism, and retail trade. May this event inspire you to create new strategies that will allow you to forge even deeper, more meaningful ties with your partners.
I thank you for your contributions to reinforcing our linkages and to fostering goodwill between our peoples. May you carry on with your support and remain a vital part of our economic success and social development in the coming years.
I wish you a happy and meaningful anniversary.

BENIGNO s. AQUINO III

MANILA
9 November 2015 “

Copies of the letters will be available on this website soon, as will a report of the business delegation to Manila.

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