The signing of the Agreement was done at the Bureau of Investments penthouse with appointed representative of the Philippines, Secretary Ramon Lopez of the Department of Trade and Industry and Ambassador Jaroslav Olša, jr. for the Czech Republic. Along with majority of DTI’s undersecretaries, the other departments were also present: Dept. of Foreign Affairs USEC Manuel Teehankee, Dept. of Transportation USEC Reyner Yebra, the representatives of Czech investors in the country like Zdeněk Jankovský, CFO of Home Credit Philippines, and officials from the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Manila.

The Agreement negotiations initially started way back in 2004 under the former Czech Ambassador Stanislav Slavický and had gone back and forth multiple times from Manila to Prague and vis-à-vis for extensive revision and fine tuning of legal matters. The Agreement spells out a great number of opportunities, promoting trade and industrial cooperation and facilitating networking activities between entrepreneurial entities in areas of mutual interest and establishing an entirely new Joint Economic Committee between the two countries.

Prior to the signing, the afternoon’s program included a roundtable discussion focusing on various points of economic interest. Undersecretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Group Ceferino Rodolfo headed the talk on Philippine-Europe Strategy and discussed Proposed Cooperation Activities in transportation, electronics, health and food and beverage, and the creative industry. Undersecretary for Management Services Group Rowel Barba ended with the Outcomes of the Business Missions to the Czech Republic, which he had the chance recently to visit.

As the continuous economic boost is expected to be sustainable as the Czech Republic has the fastest growth in the European Union, this creates many opportunities for bilateral trade and investments. Not surprisingly the Czech Republic is now 9^th trading partner of the Philippines out of the 28 members of the European Union, according to Philippine Statistical Authority, exchanging mostly electronics with the Philippines.

The Czech Republic is also hailed as the Europe’s most industrialized EU nation, with over 32% of its economy formed by industry, chiefly transportation products (cars, trains, trams, buses as well as planes and subways), chemical and medical industries as well as strong defense industry. Czech Republic has now the lowest European unemployment - 2,9% in July 2017.

As 2017 has become an intensive year for Czech-Philippine bilateral relations, the expanding network and cooperation of the two countries has once again given birth to an international agreement in the field of Trade and Industry. The Agreement on Economic Cooperation between the two participating governments aims to contribute further development in trade, investment and economic cooperation that should create favorable conditions for promotion of activities in both the Czech and Filipino markets.