Cancellation of Berlin meeting seen to affect RP-German ties

Just when the Philippines appeared to be finally taking the right step to heal Philippine-German relations, another misstep has been taken with the unilateral decision of the Philippines to cancel a private-sector led meeting in Berlin this month between private German and Filipino businessmen and German and Filipino trade officials.

According to Henry J. Schumacher, executive vice president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, the Philippine-German Economic Council meeting was supposed to be held on Sept. 22 in Berlin and had been arranged more than three months ago.

Unfortunately, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila, who was supposed to attend the meeting, decided to beg off, claiming that he needed to go to New York and also prepare for a forthcoming competitiveness seminar.

According to Schumacher, "the unilateral decision to cancel the meeting is another lost opportunity to turn a new page in Philippine-German relations."

The Philippine-German Economic Council was established in 1999 in Berlin under the patronage of the economic ministers of both countries.

The last meeting of the council took place in Manila in 2004.

The meeting, according to Schumacher, is a good opportunity for Filipino and German businessmen to interact, discuss infrastructure investments, economic cooperation as well as concerns.

Thus, the cancellation was a disappointment for the organizers and some 22 German companies that had initially signed up to attend the meeting.

The Philippine side, however, Schumacher said, recently indicated that they wanted to reschedule the meeting, but German organizers are now uncertain if they can convince the German companies to attend.

Schumacher pointed out that the meeting in Berlin would have come at the right time after the government finally took steps to compensate proponents of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

German Embassy Charge d’Affaires Rolf Saligmann, at the launch of the German Month yesterday, expressed confidence that with the resolution of the NAIA-T3 dispute, the Philippines and Germany now have a "strong basis to build on the future."

Saligmann pointed out that even with the NAIA-T3 issue, Germany continued to provide official development assistance as well as economic and technical cooperation to the Philippines.

Since 1961, Germany has granted the Philippines P36.46 billion in financial cooperation assistance.

German assistance continue, Saligmann said, such as the $60-million soft loan for a windpower project in the Ilocos province.

Other German investments include a coal-power plant in Cagayan de Oro by State Power Inc., a furniture production plant in Cebu and a Siemens call center with 500 seats.

There are about 220 German companies in the Philippines, employing 27,000 Filipino workers, Saligmann said.