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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Diplomatic Reception on the Terrace of the House of Lords

 

 

Gabriella Quimson Vice Chairman  Philippine British Business Council(PBBC)  and His Excellency Ambassador Locsin arriving the House of Lords.

Joseph Miro Chairman of Philippine British Business Council(PBBC) was also present at a Diplomatic Reception on the Terrace of the House of Lords to hear a speech given by the Rt Hon Lord Howell of Guilford.

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Jan 28

Motor Vehicles in the Philippines

When you visit Manila, it seems as though all the motor vehicles in the Philippines are in Manila at the same time. getting around Manila is relatively easy, but can take some time during peak periods.Manila Traffic

The World Bank has published statistics for the number of motor vehicles per 1,000 population for a lot of countries in the world, including the Philippines. “Motor vehicles” includes cars, buses, and freight vehicles but does not include two-wheelers.The number per 1,000 for the Philippines is an average of 30 for the period 2008 to 2012.

The population of the Philippines is approximately 98 million, so this means that there are some 29.4 million motor vehicles in the Philippines.

So, how does this compare with other countries? Some comparisons in Europe are:

 

United Kingdom 519
Germany 572
Italy 679
Netherlands 527
Sweden 520
Spain 593

The Americas are also an interesting comparison:

 

Canada 607
Mexico 275
United States 797

But how does the Philippines compare with the countries nearer to it in South East Asia?

 

China 58
Japan 591
Malaysia 361
Myanmar 7
Singapore 149
Thailand 157

Some of the other countries in SE Asia do not have any figures so the comparison is quite limited.

So what conclusion can you draw from these figures? Firstly, there are a lot of vehicles in the Philippines! A high concentration is obviously in Manila. Some of the rural and remote areas will have very few vehicles, although the ubiquitous jeepney gets to most places.

Secondly, there is clearly an opportunity for more vehicles as the population becomes more wealthy arising out of the economic development of the country.

Thirdly, there is a high reliance on public transport throughout the Philippines and this has plenty of scope for further development to develop the whole public transport infrastructure throughout the Philippines. New transport infrastructure in manila is well underway through various PPP initiatives.

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Jan 25

Philippine Star, London Eye

The British Ambassador to the Philippines is a man of many talents! He has a weekly column in the Philippine Star, London Eye featuring stories and opinions on the Philippines and the UK.philstar logo

The Philippine Star is a daily English-language broadsheet newspaper based in Manila in the Philippines. It has the most subscribers of any newspaper in the Philippines and serves as one of the country’s newspapers of record. Owned and published by PhilSTAR Daily, Inc, it was founded on July 28, 1986 by veteran journalists Max Soliven, Betty Go-Belmonte and Art Borjal in the wake of the EDSA People Power Revolution. The Philippine STAR has an established circulation in Hong Kong and in Saudi Arabia.

The Philippine Star is the most read broadsheet in the Philippine capital of Metro Manila, with a Monday-to-Saturday readership of 47.4 percent.

The London Eye provides features on a wide range of topics, all connected with the work of an Ambassador and the strong business relationship between Britain and the Philippines.

Recent articles by Stephen Lillie include the following titles: 

The G8 — why it matters globally

New Year’s resolutions

2012: Remembering the past, focusing on the future

International relations and what I’m here to do

Building smarter cities

More than a slogan

Less violence and more women leaders

Demystifying the UK visa service

The leadership challenge

A thoughtful All Saints Day

The end of the beginning…

A world built on trade

 

To access these the Philippine Star, London Eye articles and features, please follow the link  http://www.philstar.com/author/Stephen%20Lillie/LONDON%20EYE.

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Jan 22

UK Minister Addresses the Makati Business Club

“Philippines and UK can be powerful partners for prosperity”

Makati Business Club 11 December 2012 – “It is clear that future prosperity (in the Philippines) will be based on partnerships,” said Hugo Swire, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom. Addressing members of the Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, British Chamber of Commerce, and the Philippine-British Business Council. Swire also said that these days are exciting times for the continued partnership of the Philippines and the UK and that both nations are taking steps to further cement diplomatic and economic ties.makati

Earlier in the day, Mr. Swire had a dialogue with President Benigno Aquino III to tackle areas of cooperation. He also reported that a joint plan of action had been signed with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, as well as a new air services agreement with Transportation and Communications Secretary Emilio Abaya, which he hopes would further expand trade and tourism.

In his keynote, Mr. Swire emphasized that the United Kingdom stands as one of the Philippines’ key partners in the goal of mutual prosperity. He said that British ICT specialists have been assisting in the expansion of the Philippine Stock Exchange’s fiber optic network, experts have been sharing their experience in Public-Private Partnerships, and that the UK has played a key role in the crafting of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement as part of the International Contact Group.

Recognizing the limitations of governments and the crucial role of the private sector in globalized trade, Swire said that “international trade and investment is not just the best route to development; history tells us it is the only one.” Thus, in working towards mutual prosperity he invited the local business community to explore partnerships with British companies, highlighting the United Kingdom’s competitive advantage of a strong legal system.

“We as governments can only do so much. Ultimately, it is business that will drive growth,” he said.

 

Editor’s note: The Makati Business Club is the foremost Club of senior business executives in the Philippines. The Makati Business Club supports the growth of the Philippines economy and transparency within all aspects of government. The Makati Business Club meets regularly in Manila and holds events of particular interest to the Philippines and international business community.

 

Report by the Makati Business Club.

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Jan 18

New Passenger Terminal At International Airport

The Philippine government is seeking companies interested to pre-qualify and bid for the International Airport New Passenger Terminal Project located at the second largest airport in the Philippines. The response deadline is 21/02/2013.cheap flights

According to UKTI, UK companies are invited to pre-qualify and bid to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the new passenger development project. 

The scope of the project includes:

  • ·         Construction of a new passenger terminal to handle 10 million passengers a year, along with all related infrastructure and facilities
  • ·         Construction of an apron for the new passenger terminal
  • ·         Renovation and expansion of the existing terminal along with all related infrastructure and facilities
  • ·         Installation of all the required equipment and other facilities
  • ·         Installation of the required IT and other equipment
  • ·         Operation and maintenance of both passenger terminals

You can register your interest with the UKTI Manila team for further information and how they can help you participate in the project.

According to the Manila based Philippine Daily Inquirer Newspaper, the government is planning to break ground on a new passenger terminal specifically for budget carriers at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga this year to cope with the rising number of passengers flying out of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA). Cheap flights to Clark airport provide increasing competition to cheap flights to Manila.

The new budget terminal is expected to take three years to complete and will be able to handle about 10 million passengers a year. This will make Clark the second largest airport in the country, next to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

“At present, our terminal capacity is very limited. Our current passenger terminal is being expanded to serve 2.5 million passengers a year,” Clark International Airport Corp. president Victor Luciano said in an interview.

The new budget terminal will be an entirely different structure from the existing passenger terminal, although they will be linked. Budget carriers offer cheap flights internationally to and from Clark.

The current DMIA’s expansion project, which would cost about P360 million and is up for completion next year, would more than double the airport’s current capacity of about 1 million passengers a year and could seriously dent the number of cheap flights to Manila.

DMIA is expected to serve 750,000 passengers by the end of this year. By next year, Luciano said the number was seen to breach 1 million.

“AirAsia alone is expecting to have five million passengers out of Clark in the next four years,” Luciano said.

AirAsia Inc., the local unit of Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad, has yet to start operations but it plans to fly to several domestic and regional destinations, including several points in Japan, out of DMIA.

The new terminal, which will be a separate project from the planned overall development of Clark as a premiere international gateway, may be included in the government’s list of public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

Luciano said funding for the new terminal might come from the national budget.

Other airlines that fly out of Clark are local carriers Cebu Pacific, Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAir) and AirPhil Express; South Korean companies’ Jin Air and Asiana Airlines, and Singapore’s Tiger Airways.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific has apparently also expressed interest in setting up a hub in Clark, which is a more convenient airport than Manila for millions of Filipinos living in Northern and Central Luzon. Clark is to the north of Manila and already offers some competition to cheap flights to Manila.

For cheap flights, hotels and tourist spots in the Philippines information, please see relevant pages

 

 

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