SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Port operations in the country’s premier freeport is expected to experience increased activities as the Government of Taiwan expressed keen interest in forging a partnership with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
In a recent visit here, executive officials from Taiwan Maritime and Port Bureau led by deputy director general Lee Yuan-Wan manifested to SBMA OIC-administrator Atty. Randy Escolango the possibility of building a transshipment partnership between Taiwan and Subic Bay.
The partnership aims to in-crease the volume of contain-er traffi c between the Port of Subic Bay and Taiwan Ports, thru Yang Ming Shipping Lines.
In response, Escolango suggested to the director general of Taiwan Port Bu-reau to encourage industries in Taichung to use the Port of Subic as their gateway in the region.
The visit of the Taiwanese delegation to the Port of Subic is a result of SBMA’s participation in the 22nd Philip-pines-Taiwan Joint Economic Conference held on October 27-28 in Taipei, Taiwan.
The “Southbound Policy” of the Government of Taiwan has initiated concrete measures in prioritizing countries south of Taiwan, including the Philippines, in the area of trade and investments.
Due to this paradigm shift, the Philippines is taking ad-vantage of this opportunity to capture the matured growth of industries in Taiwan in the fields of high-value manufacturing, innovation, logistics and transshipment, renew-able energy, e-commerce and financing.
Escolango noted that Taiwan is the Philippines’ 6th trading partner with $7.85 billion worth of bilateral trade in 2015.
At present, there are 52 Taiwanese companies in Subic Freeport, mostly inside the Taiwanese-run Subic Bay Gateway Park, with over $500 million worth of investments generating 12,500 jobs.
