The Philippines will seek to strengthen trade and investments cooperation with Mexico.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said in a statement over the weekend he had discussed ways to heighten cooperation on trade and investments between the Philippines and Mexico in a recent meeting with Mexican Ambassador to Manila Julio Camarena Villaseñor.
The meeting focused on Mexico’s concerns on the avoidance of double taxation, which also includes an exchange of information on tax matters between the two countries to combat evasion.
They also discussed Mexico’s proposal to do away with the triangulation of the exchange rate between the Philippine peso and Mexican peso, which means the two currencies are traded in the foreign exchange market without having to go through the US dollar conversion process.
“Our portfolio in the Philippines is getting bigger and bigger. This agreement (on the avoidance of double taxation) is very important,” the Mexican ambassador told Dominguez during their meeting.
With Ambassador Camarena at the meeting was Coca-Cola FEMSA president Fabricio Ponce. Coca-Cola FEMSA is the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world, and is also in the beer industry through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken.
Camarena said aside from Coca-Cola FEMSA, other Mexican companies like cement and building materials manufacturer Cemex and the appliance company Mabe had substantial investments in the Philippines.
“The investments of Mexico has reached the $6-billion figure in the Philippines,” he said.
Dominguez said he would immediately take up the double taxation issue with the Senate, which has yet to concur with the agreement.
The finance chief agreed with Mexico’s proposal to scrap the triangulation of exchange rate between the currencies of the two countries.
“We will make sure that we’ll follow it through (with the Senate),” Dominguez assured the ambassador.
The agreement on double taxation avoidance with respect to taxes on income and the prevention of tax evasion was signed between the Philippines and Mexico in 2015. The Philippine Senate has yet to concur with the accord.