SUBIC FREEPORT ZONE – The Taiwan Maritime and Port Bureau has expressed interest in forging a partnership with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
At present, there are 52 Taiwanese companies in Subic Freeport, mostly inside the Taiwanese-run Subic Bay Gateway Park, with over US$500 million worth of investments generating 12,500 jobs.
Taiwan is also the Philippines’ 6th trading partner with US$7.85 billion worth of bilateral trade in 2015.
The Taiwan Maritime and Port Bureau led by Deputy Director General Lee Yuan-Wan recently told SBMA OIC-Administrator Atty. Randy Escolango the possibility of building a transshipment partnership between Taiwan and Subic Bay.
The partnership aims to increase the volume of container traffic between the Port of Subic Bay and Taiwan Ports, thru Yang Ming Shipping Lines.
Escolango urged the Taiwanese delegates to encourage industries in Taichung to use the Port of Subic as their gateway in the region.
The Taiwanese port officials’ Subic visit is a result of SBMA’s participation in the 22nd Philippines-Taiwan Joint Economic Conference held on October 27-28 in Taipei, Taiwan.
The “Southbound Policy” of the Taiwan government has initiated concrete measures in prioritizing countries south of Taiwan, including the Philippines, in the area of trade and investments.
The Philippines is taking advantage of this opportunity to capture the matured growth of industries in Taiwan in the fields of high-value manufacturing, innovation, logistics and transshipment, renewable energy, e-commerce and financing. (Dante M. Salvana)