PRESS RELEASE
PR-050-2022
(1 September 2022, Singapore) – The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), the Philippine international marketing and promotional arm of Mindanao island’s investment, business, and tourism, in cooperation with the Philippine Embassy in Singapore and Philippine Trade and Investment Center, held a successful Business Mission on 9-10 August 2022 in Singapore.
The business mission, led by MinDA’s Chairperson, Secretary Maria Belen S. Acosta, was composed of a 23-delegation company representatives from Zamboanga City, Cagayan de Oro City, Koronadal City, Davao City, Cabadbaran City, Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato City, Pagadian City, General Santos City, Iligan City, and Marawi City. The mission aimed to identify possible investment opportunities and business matching engagement in Singapore and in the Philippines.
On 09 August 2022, the members of the business mission conducted company site visits to the Singapore Fish Merchants’ General Association at Jurong fish port and the Zenxin Agri Organic Food Pte Ltd. The business delegation also visited the Jurong Bird Park where the two Philippine eagles are housed on a ten-year loan conservation agreement between Philippines and Singapore.
On 10 August 2022, a forum was held at Orchard Hotel Singapore which provided a venue to share information and raise Singapore investors’ interest in Mindanao’s businesses and flagship industries, mainly agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors. The Embassy, together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), co-organized the forum.
Mindanao supplies over 40 percent of the Philippines’ food requirements, and contributes more than 30 percent to the national food trade. Among the 17 regions of the Philippines which recorded positive growth in 2021, four regions whose Gross Regional Domestic Product returned to pre-pandemic levels all came from Mindanao – the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen and Zamboanga Peninsula; with BARMM recording the second-fastest growth among all regions in the country at 7.5 percent.
The business mission was able to facilitate a Purchase and Supply Agreement between Bananah & Co. Pte Ltd, as the buyer, and the Avante Agri-Products Philippines Inc., as the seller, for the import of fresh golden pineapple, papaya, cavendish banana, saba/cardava, and other export-grade agricultural products. END
