FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the Philippines will benefit from the One Belt, One Road initiative of the People’s Republic of China because it will fit with the infrastructure buildup of the Duterte administration and help sharpen the country’s competitiveness.
Dominguez said with airports and seaports as part of the Duterte presidency’s envisioned “Golden Age of Infrastructure,” the maritime silk road component of One Belt, One Road would open new markets for Philippine products in Beijing’s planned corridor between China and the Middle East and Europe.
Describing the initiative as a “powerful idea,” Dominguez said the China-led project would promote free trade and integrate economies across Asia and Europe.
“We think that Philippines will definitely benefit in participating in this One Belt, One Road project particularly in the Maritime Silk Road section of that project,” Dominguez said in a recent interview in Hong Kong.
“The Philippines is building a lot of infrastructure, of course with the help of China, and among the infrastructure that we are building are ports and airports. That will help lower the cost of shipping our goods to say Hong Kong or to Shanghai and that will open markets to us along the corridor between China and the Middle East and Europe,” he said.
He said the Philippines’ manufacturing industry, especially companies producing electronics, and food exports sector, including those selling tropical fruits, would have more and quicker access to new and profitable markets under the OBOR project.
“We are the largest exporters of tropical fruits (in Asia) so definitely there will be a lot of benefit to us if we are able to open markets in let’s say Kazakhstan, in Uzbekistan [and other countries], along the One Belt, One Road area,” Dominguez said. “And that’s aside from our manufactured goods.”
The OBOR Initiative, valued at about $1 trillion, aims to get some 60 countries to invest in infrastructure projects to develop land and maritime routes following the old Silk Road network that once connected China to Central Asia and Europe.