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MANILA, Philippines — German Ambassador Andreas Michael Pfaffernoschke on Thursday told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that businesses in his country are eager to explore opportunities in the Philippines, the Palace said in a statement.
This comes after the European Commission decided to resume free trade negotiations with the Philippines, which was stalled during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
READ: EU, Philippines to relaunch free trade negotiations
“Our business people here are very keen on really exploring new possibilities and new ideas and new business opportunities both ways, of course, not just for the German industry here but also for the Philippine industry in Germany,” Pfaffernoschke told Marcos.
Pfaffernoschke also pointed to the strong people-to-people relations between the two countries, which he hoped would grow stronger once the Philippines and Germany exchange workers.
“People-to-people relations are already strong and they might become even stronger once we exchange even more skilled workers from the Philippines to Germany, also Germans coming to the Philippines. So strong ties we already do have, we might even foster in the years to come. And I think that is the basis for good relations,” said the German envoy.
In turn, Marcos pointed to the presence of overseas Filipino workers in Germany as the basis to explore other aspects of relations between Germany and the Philippines.
“That provides a very good foundation for us to explore other things. So, I think the continuing development cooperation between our two countries is going to grow only more important in the near future, even in the medium term,” Marcos said.
According to Malacañang, Germany was the Philippines’ 12th largest trading partner in 2022, with $2.8 billion in exports and $1.9 billion in imports.
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