More Dutch investments in the Philippines, spotlight on New Manila Airport

The Netherlands is expected to designate a focal person who will work with the Philippine government to promote trade and boost Dutch investment in the country, the Philippine News Agency reports.

“What we are happy about is the commitment of the Netherlands to designate a focal point to carry out the memorandum of understanding on economic and technical cooperation,” said Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands, J. Eduardo Malaya, on the sidelines of a recent meeting between Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hanke Bruins Slot, and Foreign Affairs Secretary, Enrique Manalo.

“We have been encouraging this for some time because we have noted that there are the joint bilateral consultations but mostly doing cooperation on the political security and other fields and it needed to be complemented by economic cooperation,” he added.

During their meeting in Manila, Bruins Slot and Manalo agreed to explore ways to enhance cooperation in of water management, agriculture and circular economy, among others.

Malaya said that the Dutch delegation also cited the involvement of the dredging giant Royal Boskalis Westminster NV in the construction of the New Manila International Airport in the country.

“Boskalis is one of the biggest dredging land reclamation companies in the world, and they have the biggest contract in their entire history in the Philippines,” he said.

“So (the Dutch) they’re seeing those, realizing those and now I think they’re giving more focus on the Philippines,” he concluded.