BCCP Vice Chairman Chris Nelson said the Chamber does not expect immediate changes in UK investment appetite, saying, “I don’t see any change, certainly in the short term, in any investment or opportunities or outlook.”
Nelson said the UK government’s broader focus on exports and business engagement has remained consistent, even through leadership transitions.
“If you look at the outlook of the British government, there has been an overall focus to improve exports and actually to try and get SMEs to do business,” he said. “We’ve kept up that philosophy. We’ve worked very hard on that.”
He added that UK-Philippines trade has grown significantly since Brexit and now stands at about £3 billion. Nelson said the Chamber would like to see trade expand further, noting that the post-Brexit environment has also opened up more tariff-free access for Philippine exports to the UK under the developing countries’ tariff scheme.
He said the scheme covers “90 percent of goods going from the Philippines to the UK,” and pointed to the Joint Economic Committee as a sign of strengthening economic ties.
On agriculture and food security, Nelson said the BCCP supports the government’s move to increase the minimum access volume (MAV) for pork imports under Executive Order 116.