Bataan Freeport keeps up with ASEAN integration

MARIVELES, Bataan – As the ASEAN integration pulls the center of global economic gravity to Asia, the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) keeps up with the wave as it launches this year two programs that will bridge small businesses with huge industries.

In a recent presentation to the Department of Trade and Industry’s Foreign Trade Services Corps (FTSC), AFAB defined its five-year promotion and development program called the 7 Pillars of Inclusive Growth. Part of this long-term economic design are the FAB Kaisa and FAB Assists programs which will be launched this 2016 and will pan out for the next five years.

Under FAB Kaisa, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) especially those locating in Bataan will be partnered with industry investors to supply the needed raw materials or to provide local services.“It is in this vein that FAB Kaisa also proposes to focus on the ASEAN integration where the supply and value chains go regional in scope,” AFAB said in a statement.

MSMEs, which compose over 90 percent of registered businesses in the Philippines, will strengthen the supply and value chain in the FAB and eventually in the country through facilitated partnerships with international and domestic multinational companies, and other investment promotions agencies.

Meanwhile, under the FAB Assists program, potential investors are lured in to support the construction of industrial parks inside the freeport. These industrial parks will host companies that are buyers of local raw products and services, and are generators of employment for the people.

“After being able to lure more locators to the freeport and maintain its status as the fastest growing freeport in the country for three years, the FAB now is ready to further strengthen and push its brand as the future’s answer to business,” AFAB

The FTSC aims to promote Philippine trade and investment worldwide. As part of the International Trade Group, they connect Philippine companies and foreign investors with their global counterparts. As of today, FTSC is present in 18 countries in Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Asia and the Pacific.