Press Release

Philippines-Netherlands Business Council relaunched

By Martin den Heyer
Chairman, PNBC Executive Board
Manila
October 5, 2015



During the presentation some facts were shown that met with great surprise from most of the audience:

 The Netherlands was in 2014 the 2nd biggest investor in the Philippines and almost twice the size of investments of the United States of America.

 The Netherlands is the 10th biggest export market for the Philippines.

 The Dutch maritime fleet employs some 15,000 Filipino seamen.

 Next year we celebrate 150 years of consular relations and 65 years of formal diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Philippines

 The economy of the Philippines is after China the fastest growing economy of all emerging economies

All this changes the way companies are doing business in the Philippines. Not so long ago foreign companies would mainly come to the Philippines because of the attractive labor cost. Nowadays you see more and more companies from the Netherlands who discover the Philippines as an intersting and fast growing market. This means that some companies are leaving the country, moving to countries with lower labor cost, but many new companies arriving here. This whole dynamic makes that a strong Netherlands-Philippines Business Council is now more needed than ever.

The PNBC supports companies from the Netherlands who are doing business in or with the Philippines, and Philippine companies who are doing business with the Netherlands. The things the PNBC offers are:

 Seminars

 Web forum (members only)

 Platform to promote your business

 Networking events

 Company directory

 Advocacy

Other members of our advisory council are Mr. Theo Arnold, retired ambassador and founder of the Malaysian-Netherlands Business Council and Mr. Jan Willem van den Wall Bake, Alternate Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank.

Now, only a few days after our relaunch, the PNBC already has reached the targeted 50 members, among them our platinum members: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Royal DSM Nutritional products, Philips electronics and East West Seed.

During the PNBC’s relaunch event there was plenty of interest. We had over a 100 visitors of whom many signed up as member, others pledged to become a member soon.

For more information email to [email protected] or call Martin den heyer at +63-917-631 5496