THE Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) is planning to organize a series of international investments missions this year.

Arturo Milan, DCCCII President, told SunStar Davao they are planning trade missions to Australia, Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea. The trade mission to South Korea is being organized by the Davao City government while the remaining four are DCCCII initiated.

"We cannot be sitting and waiting for them to come. We need to be more aggressive in our trade promotion to other countries. If we want investors to come, we should visit them and tell what we can offer," Milan said.

He said they are planning the trade missions in coordination with their counterparts in five countries.

Milan said they have not decided yet on the industries that will be given focus but the tourism industry will definitely be included in all the trade missions. For Australia and Singapore, agriculture and technology will be among the planned focus industries.

With the trade missions, they hope to convert the discussions into actual investments for Davao.

Meanwhile, Milan said during the DCCCII General Membership meeting on February 27 they have met with representatives of the Australian Embassy in the Philippines in Davao City last February 11 to discuss on prospects for Davao and Mindanao.

Zhou Suli, charge d'affaires of the Embassy of Singapore in the Philippines, have also informed the members of the chamber on Singapore's efforts to diversify its food sources.

"Currently Singapore imports a small number of food products from the Philippines, most of these are fruits like bananas, pineapples, papayas, and mangoes. We are keen to import more," Suli said.

With Davao being a food basket, she said there is potential for agribusinesses in Davao Region to export their products in Singapore.