MANILA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The economic and trade cooperation between China and the Philippines had achieved tangible results in 2020, creating jobs for the Filipinos and effectively promoting its economic recovery, said Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Huang said in the first 10 months of 2020, China remained to be the Philippines' largest trading partner and largest source of imports while leaping to its second-largest export market.
"According to the data from the Philippine side, the Philippine monthly exports to China in September and October increased by 43.3 percent and 12.7 percent year-on-year respectively, showing a sound momentum of growth," he added.
Last March, the first batch of avocados exported from the Philippines arrived in Shanghai, making the Philippines the first Asian country to export avocados to China, the Chinese ambassador said, adding that during the third China International Import Expo last November, Chinese buyers signed a letter of intent to purchase fruits worth up to 200 million U.S. dollars with Philippine companies in one go.
Chinese investment in the Philippines also saw a surge, as China Telecom with the Filipino partners has jointly invested more than 7 billion U.S. dollars in DITO Telecommunity, the Philippines' third major telco. More than 3,000 base stations are under construction and the construction of the backbone and access trunk optical cables stretches over 13,000 km.
China's Panhua Group is putting in 3.5 billion US dollars to build a steel plant in the Philippines which will upgrade the steel industry of the Philippines and bring 10,000 direct jobs.
Huang said China and the Philippines had completed 11 G-to-G cooperation projects so far, covering drug control, anti-terrorism, food security, radio and television services and other fields. And 12 other projects are under implementation.
"China is committed to further synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative and the 'Build, Build, Build' program, accelerating trade liberalization and facilitation, strengthening cooperation on cross-border e-commerce and finance, so as to share development opportunities and outcome at the new normal and post-pandemic era," Huang said.
In 2017 the Philippine government initiated the "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure program, which intended to spend 8 to 9 trillion pesos (roughly 160 billion to 180 billion U.S. dollars) in the medium term, to improve the country's public transportation. Some enterprises from China are participating in this mega infrastructure program. Enditem