PHL Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Jim Tito B. San Agustin (2nd to the left, bottom photo) pose for a photo alongside other ASEAN Heads of Post, ACS Commercial Attachés and the officials of Chile’s Sociedad de Fomento Fabril (SOFOFA)
(Santiago, 13 December 2022) In its capacity as Chair of the ASEAN Committee in Santiago (ACS), the Philippine Embassy, represented by Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Jim Tito B. San Agustin, led the ACS (PHL, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) in discussions with Chile’s SOFOFA on the reinvigoration of bilateral and regional trade under a post-pandemic horizon. SOFOFA or Sociedad de Fomento Fabril is Chile’s main industry and manufacturing promotion arm, representing no less than 22 business associations and more than 4,000 companies and stakeholders from all across the country’s regions.
The business luncheon was initiated by SOFOFA President Richard Von Appen alongside Co-SOFOFA President for Business Councils Juan Eduardo Errazuriz and other SOFOFA officials and partners. Also in attendance were the Business Council Representatives and Trade Attachés of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
CDA San Agustin highlighted the Philippines’ commitment to continue its close partnership with SOFOFA and to maximize trade and investment engagements between the two countries under the PHL-Chile MOU on the Establishment of a Joint Economic Cooperation or JEC. SOFOFA, for its part, emphasized that Chile is keenly awaiting the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the Philippines and Chile—similar to those already being enjoyed by other ACS members. They mentioned, as a promising example, that Chilean meat exporters are in fact already regularly exporting one reefer container of pork and chicken to the Philippines on a daily basis. It is expected that a signed FTA would further increase two-way trade volume on a variety of consumer products, as well as facilitate familiarity and investment between the two countries.
As members of SOFOFA include the top renewable industries of Chile, CDA San Agustin also provided a briefing on Philippine investments in Chile’s geothermal energy sector, specifically that of the Energy Development Corporation or EDC.
On a broader bloc-to-bloc perspective, both ACS and SOFOFA equally expressed their hope for closer partnership and continuing engagement between ASEAN and the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) under the ambit of the ASEAN-PA Framework of Cooperation.
The ACS closed the meeting by handing over a special basket of assorted Philippine, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese food products and snacks to SOFOFA President Von Appel.
The Philippine Embassy is scheduled to turn over the Chairmanship of ACS to the Embassy of Vietnam during the ASEAN Family Day earmarked for the last week of January 2023. END
