CCPIT exec: Send trade mission to China

ORGANIZE A trade mission to China to promote Cebu.

This was the call of Yu Ping, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) vice chairman, during his speech yesterday at the First Philippines-China Trade and Investment Forum.

Yu led 33 other Chinese businessmen who visited Cebu for the forum and business matching session at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

“You can join the visit organized by PCCI (Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry) this September or you can organize a visit yourself. Either way, we will be willing to help,” Yu told the Cebu businessmen during the forum.

“This is the start of a continued relationship and all our delegates expect to have successful interaction with Cebu businessmen to know how and where we can promote more cooperation,” Yu said.

“Cebu is an important city in the Philippines so we are very interested to visit the city. We were told that Cebu is a city of abundant resources but not much Chinese investment are here yet, so we feel we have big responsibility,” Yu said.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he was pleased with the move of the Chinese businessmen to come and see for themselves what Cebu can offer to them.

“Today we are embarking on a first step to build a stronger relationship and hopefully in the future foster healthy business relationship,” Rama said.

What Cebu offers

Joel Mari Yu, Cebu Investments and Promotions Center managing director, also encouraged the Chinese delegation to look at the rich opportunities in Cebu including trade opportunities and investments in tourism and the ICT and outsourcing sectors.

Yu told the delegation of the capability of Cebu as a second home” destination for expats and foreign businessmen who would like to setup a business here and live here at the same time.

Nelia Navarro, Department of Trade and Industry provincial director, said she was happy that they had found a reliable organization of Chinese businessmen like the CCPIT, who could help traders how to sell their products in China.

“We all say that China is a huge market. But how do we go about penetrating that market? At least now we have them to help us on what we can do to successfully expand in their country aside from them also expanding here,” said Navarro.