Canada extends grant to boost competitiveness of Philippine LGUs

Eliminating barriers to trade will lead to more Canadian investments in the Philippines, a top Canadian trade official said on Friday.

“We need to trade freely. [Canada] is against the impulse of protectionism,” said International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who is visiting the Philippines in line with the celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Day said Canadian investors have been pouring money into the energy and mining sectors worldwide, and there would be more areas up for investments “when countries decide that they will be as easy as possible in taxation and in the regulatory regime.”

“Playing fields [should be] as level as possible among countries so people can do [business] with less government [intervention],” he said.

“Government should not be excessive in [taxation and regulation] . . . [these] should not be a disincentive to people,” he said.

Day told reporters that Canada targets “more” bilateral trade volume with the Philippines.

Two-way trade between the two countries last year reached about 1.4 billion Canadian dollars. Canada imported 822.7-million Canadian dollars worth of goods from the Philippines in 2008, up 7.4 percent from 2007. Canadian exports to the Philippines went up 21.9 percent last year.

One Canadian dollar is worth approximately P44.46.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) from Canada—mostly into the mining sector—amounted to 671 million Canadian dollars last year, up 14.3 percent from 2007.

Day said the Canadian government is granting 18 million Canadian dollars to select local governments in the Philippines to improve doing business in those localities.

“The Local Governance Support Program for Local Economic Development project [will help] streamline policies and make it easier to do business,” the Canadian government said in a statement.

“The Canadian Urban Institute and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges [will work] with the Philippine Department of the Interior and Local Government [DILG] to assist [the so-called] local economic development champions—comprising one province, three cities and 23 municipalities—to serve as models to be promoted and replicated throughout the Philippines,” it added.

“Local businesses are the engines that drive local economies. In supporting local government as an enabler for local business, the proper conditions for economic growth are put in place,” Day said.

He said Canada has donated 3.75 million Canadian dollars in humanitarian aid for relief supplies to those devastated by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. –Ben Arnold O. de Vera, Reporter, Manila Times