MANILA: 25 companies from Sweden have expressed interest in investing in the Philippines, its ambassador-designate said on Friday, a day after its embassy reopened its offices in Manila.
Swedish businesses eye investments in several sectors, including defense, said Swedish Ambassador-designate Harald Fries, whose embassy was closed in 2008 owing to the global financial crisis.
According to Mr. Fries, Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Mikael Damberg was in Manila on Thursday, leading a 70-member delegation representing 25 companies.
“He (Damberg) was the head of this biggest business delegation ever to the Philippines. And he had very constructive talks with [Transportation] Secretary [Arthur P.] Tugade and [Trade] Secretary [Ramon M.] Lopez,” Mr. Fries said in a press briefing at Malacañang on Friday.Meetings between Swedes and their Filipino business counterparts were “very fruitful, very optimistic and hopeful about coming business partnerships,” he added.
Mr. Fries confirmed that a “multinational Swedish defense and civilian security company” that took part in the business delegation was “looking into business partnerships here.”
In an interview with the Philippine Star on Nov. 3, Mr. Fries said that Saab, a company providing air, land, naval and civil aerospace products and services, could offer coastal surveillance equipment and even submarines to the Philippines.
However, the ambassador clarified that the “Swedish government doesn’t have any defense cooperation with the Philippines or the government is not engaged in any marketing of defense products.” A defense cooperation between the two countries “is nothing that’s on the table right now and we don’t know anything about that,” he said.
Sweden is a member state of the European Union (EU) that President Rodrigo R. Duterte had recently criticized in his profanity-laced speeches for condemning his bloody war against narcotics.
Asked whether Swedish investors were worried about Mr. Duterte’s verbal assaults against EU, Mr. Fries said: “I haven’t heard from any Swedish businessmen any concrete hesitancies or concern about doing business here.”
He added that “on the contrary, it has been very positive comments that I heard,” citing the Philippines’ “stable inflation, sound fiscal situation,” and other proposed programs under the Duterte administration that attracted Swedish investors such as “tax reform and reduced restrictions in foreign ownership.”
