THE Australian ambassador to the Philippines Amanda Gorely urged agriculture players particularly those in mango production to export fresh mangoes in Australia to take full advantage on the recently-inked amended version of Australia-Philippines Specific Commodity Understanding (SCU).
The Philippines’ agriculture undersecretary Segfredo Serrano and Gorely signed the agreement last October 2016.
Gorely said the agreement formalizes Australia's recognition of the Philippines’ pest free status for seed weevil and pulp weevil, except for Palawan.
The ambassador said, no Philippine company has signified interest yet to export mangoes to Australia.
"We encourage the mango producers/growers here, especially in Mindanao, to start exporting and be the pioneer company to do trial shipment to Australia," Gorely said in her speech Monday noon at the Marco Polo Hotel-Davao wherein she met with the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) officers and member.
Australian Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Elosdie Journet was also present in the forum.
The amended SCU builds on an agreement signed in 2013.
Gorely acknowledged that some of the factors barring Philippines to export in Australia is the latter's strict shipping regulations.
"We are adjusting our guidelines," she said.
Also, competitiveness issues are seen accounting that the country has to ship by air.
Australia in Davao
The Australian Embassy led by Gorely launched Monday, February 27, the “Australia in Davao” promotions, a series of events aimed to boost further the bilateral relationships between two countries especially in Mindanao.
“For years, Mindanao has been one of the priorities of our development cooperation in the Philippines. We commit to continue our programs in education, livelihood, agribusiness, peace and stability,” Gorely said.
She emphasized that given the economic growth of Mindanao, the Australia sees opportunities to expand bilateral engagement in other key areas such as trade and investment.
At present, trade ties between two countries are pegged at some AU $ 3.982-billion annually. More than 280 Australian companies have an established presence in the Philippines and have created 40,000 jobs.
Autralian investment in the country is estimated at AU$ 10 billion covering a multitude of sectors and contributing to knowledge sharing and economic growth.
"President (Rodrigo) Duterte has done so much to shine the spotlight on Mindanao, and we are pleased that Australia's development cooperation in the island-region will be aligned with the present administration's economic and development agenda," she said.